The 2019 Women’s World Cup is three months away and the U.S. are the defending World Champions.
Today, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team began defense of something even greater than their current World Cup Title, their equal rights.
On International Women’s Day, the USWNT sued U.S. Soccer in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for gender discrimination.
According to ESPNW, the 28 members of the Women’s Team are seeking class-action status over “institutionalized gender discrimination” under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit states in part,
“Despite the fact that these female and male players are called upon to perform the same job responsibilities on their teams and participate in international competitions for their single common employer, the USSF, (United States Soccer Federation) the female players have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts…even though their performance has been superior to that of the male players.”
Filing the suit on International Women’s Day is symbolic for the 2015 World Cup Champions as U.S. Forward Christen Press to the Associated Press,
“We believe it is our duty to be the role models that we’ve set out to be and fight to what we know we legally deserve. And hopefully in that way it inspires women everywhere.”
In 2016 five members of the USWNT brought a complaint against the USSF under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
That complaint stated that in 2015 the Women’s Team generated $20 million more in revenue than the Men’s Team, yet were paid about a quarter of what the men were.
Action was not taken on the complaint however and today’s lawsuit effectively ends the EEOC’s involvement.
It’s no secret that the Women’s Team is not only more popular, but have been much more successful than the Men’s Team, winning 3 World Cup Titles since its inception in 1991.
The U.S Men’s Team has never won the World Cup.
The USWNT is seeking equitable pay and treatment along with damages in the form of back pay.
Forward Alex Morgan in a statement said,
“Each of us is extremely proud to wear the United States jersey, and we also take seriously the responsibility that comes with that. 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 U.S. Women open up defense of their World Cup Title in France on June 7th.
