Saturday, April 9, 2016
Women’s Soccer - The Next Battleground for Pay Equity
On March 30th, The U.S.
Women’s Soccer team filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) accusing the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) of wage
discrimination on the basis of gender.
The athletes joined the fight for pay equity hot off their 2015 World
Cup win, in which they received $7 million less than the men’s soccer team did
for losing in round 16 in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
According to the USSF’s
2015 financial report, the women made about a quarter of what the men did,
despite bringing in nearly $20 million more in revenue. The EEOC also found that the women make
$99,000 each if they win 20 games, the minimum number of games required of the
team each year. Conversely, the men make
$100,000 each even if they lose all of those 20 games and receive bonuses of
$5,000 to $17,000 for each game played beyond the minimum requirement.[1]
"We continue to
be told we should be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional
soccer, to get paid for doing it,” said U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo on NBC Today.
"We believe now the time is right because we believe it's our
responsibility for women's sports and specifically for women's soccer to do
whatever it takes to push for equal pay and equal rights."
The USSF has been pushing back, filing a lawsuit against the
union representing the women’s team.
They are hoping the court will rule that the current collective
bargaining agreement cannot be revisited until its expiration date, December
31, 2016.
In a recent Huffington Post article, Simmons College political
science professor Leanne Doherty notes the potential impact of the women’s
team’s courageous move. She writes,
“The very idea that
these women athletes, who are very public figures with strong domestic name
recognition, have brought this case forward opens up a policy window that all
pay equity activists can step through. The players themselves seem to recognize
their power, describing it as their “duty” to call attention to pay inequity
between men and women…. They are using their social capital for political
power.”
If Doherty is right, we could see the women’s team win their
lawsuit against the USSF and spark the momentum needed for the rest of the
country to enforce equal pay in all professions. As forward Alex Morgan
understands, however, this is not simply about the pay. "We want to play in top-notch,
grass-only facilities like the U.S. men's national team," Morgan said.
"We want to have equitable and comfortable travel accommodations, and we
simply want equal treatment."
--Kathleen Melendy, MWPC Intern
