Is the US Women Soccer Team’s Victory an Event to Celebrate?

By Sreya Sarkar

(For Dainik Bhaskar)

Tuesday, February 22 or 22.02.2022 was both a palindrome and an ambigram, a numerical wonder but it was special for another reason as well. It’s the day the US Women Soccer reached a landmark $24 million settlement and was promised by their federation to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s national teams.

The United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) case is the first time women athletes in the U.S. sued their employer for gender discrimination — and succeeded. While other women athletes, like tennis players Billie Jean King and Venus and Serena Williams, and Women’s National Basketball Association players have advocated for equal prize money, comparable salaries to male athletes, and better working conditions, the USWNT could for the first time make a dent in the system.

This win didn’t come easy. Six years ago, a group of five U.S. Women's National Team players filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint about inequality in pay and treatment. The players — Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo — said they were being treated unfairly in several ways when it came to bonuses, appearance fees, and even meal money while they were in training camps. The USWNT alleged that despite the women’s team generating $20 million in revenue the year before, the team paid the women players four times less than the men.

The USWNT sued US Soccer in 2019 seeking $66m in damages under the Equal Pay Act over allegations of gender discrimination in compensation and nearly every other aspect of their playing conditions.

The US Federation argued in the past that its hands were tied because the prize money is set by FIFA, which awarded $38 Million to France for winning the 2018 men’s World Cup but only $4 Million to the US Women’s team for winning the 2019 Women’s World Cup. The federation also briefly argued that the men brought in more money and drew higher television ratings, and thus deserved higher pay. But the women stood their ground, leveraged their popularity and their social media followings to pound the federation in the court of public opinion. The lawsuit gathered national attention and led to stadium chants of “Equal Pay!” when the U.S. women’s team won the 2019 World Cup in Paris.

Before we get into the details of the settlement let us identify the achievements of the US Women’s team. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer winning four women's World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019), four Olympic Gold medals (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012), and eight CONCACAF Gold Cups. Compared to this stellar performance, the US Men’s team has not even reached a World Cup semifinal since 1930.

Tuesday’s agreement ordered that $22 Million will be distributed to the players (the players will propose how this money is dispersed, subject to approval by the court), and another $2 million into a fund for players’ post-playing careers and charitable endeavors.

US soccer star, Megan Rapinoe, one of the leaders of the fight, told TODAY, "For us, this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past but set the next generation up for something that we could only have dreamed of."

Alex Morgan, another star player also celebrated the settlement. “It’s a historic day for us! It’s been years and years of fighting for equality within our sport. Today we accomplished that with US Soccer!” she tweeted.

But not all players are equally delighted. The price tag is much smaller than the $66 million the women had requested for the settlement.

Former US team goalkeeper, Hope Solo who was one of the five players filing the complaint in 2016, took to Twitter and wrote that the settlement was not a “huge win” but rather “heartbreaking and infuriating.” She draws everyone’s attention to the fine print. The devil lies in the details after all. “‘Contingent upon the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement’,” Solo wrote on Twitter. “It doesn’t exist yet and is not guaranteed.”

The USWNT's collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 31 but was extended until March 31.

A fan of US women’s soccer and a strong advocate of equitable treatment of girls and women athletes, Cheryl Cooky, Purdue University professor of American studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, is also skeptical of this win. “A true win for equality would be for women athletes to be compensated fairly, and for both the men’s and women’s teams to receive equal treatment by the federation, regardless of how much revenue they generate and how many titles they win.”

She is concerned about what might happen if the USWNT is no longer the dominant force it has been over the past three decades. “Why must women athletes be the absolute best in their sport to be considered equal to men?” she wrote in an opinion piece for NBC News. Are women only deserving of equality if they can outperform their male counterparts both on and off the field? Expecting girls and women to be exceptional just to be considered equal is a perpetuation of discrimination in itself.

That is the reason why it is not the time to be complacent and allow this win to go to our head. That’s why the USWNT Players Association said in a statement on February 22nd, “Although the settlement reached today is an incredible success, much work remains to be done." Whether or not players and advocates agree on the settlement being a win or not, this is for sure a monumental step in the right direction.