US Women’s Soccer is more popular than Men’s Soccer, but they still get paid less

Victoria Baldor, Junior Staff Writer|April 13, 2016

Last week, the biggest athletes of the US women’s national soccer team made it apparent that while they play the same sport as their male counterparts, they oftentimes get shafted.

These female athletes filed federal complaint against the US Soccer federation for paying them less. Stars such as Hope Solo and Carli Lloyd complained of making 40% of what men are making in some cases. Their claims include shortchanges of salaries, bonuses, and appearance fees.

 

All the complaints started when player Abby Wambach filed complaints in Canada about the artificial turf playing surface, noting the men’s World Cup is played on natural grass. After the women won the World Cup with a 5-2 victory over Japan in the final, the turf issue arose again during a victory tour when a game in Hawaii was canceled because the artificial turf seemed unsafe.

The women are arguing that it is in fact illegal to pay someone lower wages due to just sexuality. Women all across the women’s national team are complaining of not getting paid as much as their male counterparts, but in fact they are a more successful team then the male US soccer team. The women’s team has been a phenomenon, winning world and Olympic championships.

Varsity Soccer player, Hannah Menendez, disagrees with the unfair pay rates in women’s soccer: “It’s just not fair that women are still being paid a lot less than men even though the sport is more popular with females.”

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Solo was joined in the complaint by the co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Alex Morgan and midfielder Megan Rapinoe. The U.S. soccer officials pushed back the players claims stating that the rating for women are just not as high as they are for men. On the other hand the supporters, including players on the men’s national team, say this is a problem that needs to be quickly fixed. Riley Gillis agrees with the supporters, “The women work just as hard as the men and receive more recognition from crowds, but for some reason aren’t getting paid even close to their male counterparts.”

These women are just few of many female athletes who are getting paid less than men and goes along with the push to close the gender pay gap.