The U.S. women’s soccer team have ramped up their fight for equal pay by filing a gender discrimination lawsuit against their employer on Friday, which also happened to be International Women’s Day.
In the suit, filed in the Los Angeles’ District Court and which names the United States Soccer Federation as the defendant, the 28 players describe “institutionalized gender discrimination” that has existed for years. It focuses on the disparity between how much the women’s team is paid compared to the US men’s soccer team.
USWNTPA's statement on the Lloyd Morgan et. al v. USSF filing ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/wt7l8IYAAG
— USWNT Players (@USWNTPlayers) March 8, 2019
According to the suit, top female players can expect to earn just 38% of what a similarly-ranked male player would earn. In raw numbers, this means that when the women won the 2015 World Cup, they were paid $1.725 million in bonuses, but in 2014, when the men’s team only reached round 16 of the World Cup, they were paid $5.375 million in bonuses.
So basically, the men received over three times more for losing than the women did for winning. Okay then.
In addition, the suit argues that this discrimination affects everything from the player’s salaries to “where they play and how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches.”
Celebrate each other. #InternationalWomansDay pic.twitter.com/fw7h79uuOd
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) March 8, 2019
The players involved in the suit include some of the biggest names in women’s sport, including Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, and all 25 of their teammates.
Talking to The New York Times, Rapinoe said:
“I think to be on this team is to understand these issues. And I think we’ve always — dating back to forever — been a team that stood up for itself and fought hard for what it felt it deserved and tried to leave the game in a better place.”
And in a statement to the Associated Press, Megan Rapinoe said that the team was proud to wear the United States jersey, but that there is a responsibility that comes with that privilege. She added:
“We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility. As players, we deserved to be paid equally for our work, regardless of our gender.”
The lawsuit only includes the current team, but they are looking to gain class-action status, which would mean that any previous players who wanted to could sign on to be part of the lawsuit.
The New York Times notes that direct comparisons between the men’s and women’s teams can be complicated by the fact that each team has their own collective bargaining agreement with US Soccer that outlines different pay structures.
The team will head to France later this year to defend their title at the Women’s World Cup. I don’t know about you, but I’m already rooting for them both on and off the field.
