The United States Soccer Federation and the country’s women’s team have closed their wage discrimination dispute on Tuesday with an agreement by which the players will receive 24 million dollars in compensation and will have the same salary as the men’s team.
This agreement represents an important victory for the US women’s team, which had sued the Federation for salary inequality compared to what the men’s team players are paid.
In a joint statement, the Federation and the players said they will work “proudly” and hand in hand to “advance equality” in the world of soccer.
US media such as ESPN detailed that the players of the national team will share 22 million and pointed out that the Federation will pay 2 million more, which will be to help the players once they have retired from professional sports and also for charitable initiatives related to equality in soccer.
The Federation has also promised that the members of its men’s and women’s teams are paid the same both in friendlies and in official tournaments.
“When we win, everyone wins!”, wrote Twitter Megan Rapinoe, an emblem of the women’s team and an icon of the fight for equality in American sports.
Subsequently, Rapinoe participated this morning in the television program “Good Morning America” with his partner and also soccer star Alex Morgan, another of the visible faces of the women’s team in this battle.
“This is a monumental step forward in feeling valued and respected and in fixing our relationship with the Federation,” Morgan said.
Rapinoe and Morgan were joined on “Good Morning America” by Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone.
This dispute began in 2016 with a complaint that five national team players filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for pay discrimination.
Those five footballers who stepped up were Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo.
Three years later, 28 players on the US national team sued the Federation for the same reasons in federal court in California.
The US women’s soccer team is a great international power and has won four World Cups (1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019), successes that leave far behind an American men’s team that did not even qualify for the last World Cup (Russia 2018).