When the final whistle blew in the Stade de Lyon in France, the United States women’s soccer team stormed the pitch. After 90 minutes of …
When the final whistle blew in the Stade de Lyon in France, the United States women’s soccer team stormed the pitch. After 90 minutes of the biggest match of their lives, the team was ready to lift the 2019 World Cup trophy after defeating the Netherlands,2-0. The on-field celebrations that year were much of the same: hugs, tears, cheering. But, in the stands, something was different. Instead of the usual «U-S-A» chants, the crowd yelled “Equal Pay!” The team’s fight for its fourth World Cup had just ended, but a new battle had just begun. As the United States Women’s National Team team now readies for its path to Tokyo, where they will vie to be the first team in women’s soccer history to win a World Cup and Olympic gold back-to-back, the calls for equal pay for women in sports have reignited. The dialogue resurfaced with last week’s release of HBO Max’s “LFG” documentary, which follows the team’s fight for equal pay beginning when the team sued its employer, U.S. Soccer, just three months before the 2019 World Cup. Last week, a group of U.S. senators also re-introduced the Even Playing Field Act, a bill that calls for equal pay, investment and working conditions for all national team athletes, coaches and personnel. The bill was first introduced in July 2019 on the heels of the World Cup. The national team has been outspoken in its fight for equal pay over the years. The “equal pay” chant is now commonplace in the stands of professional women’s soccer games – somewhat of a rallying cry for the team’s countless supporters. Earlier this year, forward Megan Rapinoe testified virtually during a hearing by the House Oversight Committee that focused on women being underpaid in the workplace. «What we’ve learned, and what we continue to learn, is that there is no level of status – and there’s no accomplishment or power – that will protect you from the clutches of inequity,» Rapinoe said in her testimony. «One cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination of any kind.» Rapinoe also spoke at the White House on Equal Pay Day – which symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work to earn what male peers earned the year prior. The USWNT’s lawsuit, led by star striker Alex Morgan, was filed on International Women’s Day in 2019.
