Women’s National Soccer Team
By SOPHIA LI ‘19
With the month of April drawing to a close, many national teams are scrambling to schedule friendly matches before the 2019 Women’s Fifa World Cup. This year’s World Cup will take place in France and all eyes will be on the United States Women’s National team, the defending World Cup champions. They defeated Japan 5-3 in the 2015 World Cup, a whirlwind game ending with the USA reclaiming the World Cup title that they previously lost to Japan in the 2011 World Cup. After the USWNT’s 2015 win, the team took over the sports world. They received a call from President Obama and much needed media attention, both praising the women for their win and hard work in their efforts in breaking gender inequality within sports.
The players took to their social media platforms to promote equal pay amongst male and female soccer teams. Women in the United States and all over the world are no stranger to pay inequality; as of 2018 women were making approximately 81.1 percent of what men were making, according to Vox.com. However, in the soccer world, the highest paid American club soccer player makes almost $6 million each year, whereas the highest paid female player makes $126,000 in the same amount of time. These numbers exclude any money made through international games and endorsements. In addition, according to fivethirtyeight.com, the United States Men’s National team made twice as much as the women’s team during their World Cup years. Whether the games be national or international it is clear that women make sufficiently less than their male counterparts. Because of this inequality, with all screens turned to the USWNT, players such as Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, and Carli Lloyd used their fame to encourage support from their fans as the national team began their journey to equal pay.
Although support from fans may seem trivial when fighting for change against a national organization, they do indeed play a vital part in the USWNT’s search for equal pay. According to forbes.com, much of a woman’s soccer athlete, and men’s, income is dependent on wins in club games as well as international games. However, their pay is also reliant on how many fans come out to watch their games. Ticket revenue can greatly affect the amount of bonus a player makes from a game. However, the amount of fan support garnered from male athletes and games completely dominate the number of fans of female teams. The heavy viewer presence and attendance causes the income gained from ticket selling to create a greater increase in pay for male athletes. In addition, in our society, streaming services and media have made male sports teams much more popular than their female counterparts. Therefore, women athletes are already at a disadvantage in gaining viewer popularity. But the USWNT will stop at nothing until their pay gap vanishes. If they can overcome the pay gap in the soccer world, their impact in other fields of work will be instrumental. As the World Cup approaches, hopefully the USWNT can win another championship and receive the money they deserve.
Image Courtesy of Google Images