https://socialistaction.org/2019/10/01/sports-equity-womens-soccer-and-the-fight-for-equal-pay/
Sports equity: Women???s soccer and the fight for equal pay
/ 17 hours ago
Oct. 2019 Megan Rapinoe (Maja Hitij:Getty)
Megan Rapinoe, after the USA Women???s Soccer team won the World Cup.
(Maja Hitij / Getty Images)
By ANN MONTAGUE
After winning the 2019 World Cup, the USA Women???s Soccer Team
immediately returned to what could eventually become their biggest win
of all. What they were really after was no secret to anyone. Echoing
throughout Stade de Lyon, the stadium where they had become world
champions, was the explosive chant: ???Equal Pay, Equal Pay!???
Everyone from the sports reporters to the thousands of fans watching the
game knew exactly what that meant. It was a reference to the huge pay
disparity between male and female soccer players. The top of the agenda
for this women???s team now became the fight off the field for respect and
equal pay.
Months before the team co-captains, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, led
their U.S. team to their 4th World Cup championship, they and 26
teammates filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) for
all the disparities. When returning from France in celebration, they
were treated to a ticker-tape parade through the streets of New York
City. While celebrating the game they clearly love, they were also
preparing for mediation with the USSF.
Union organizers could learn a lot from the street organizing that
became a live broadcast of the massive support for their demands of the
USSF. The parade was being streamed live and everyone heard thousands of
young girls all along the route shouting ???Equal Pay, Equal Pay.???
In return, the ceremony that followed showcased the diversity of girls???
soccer today as each player came forward with a young soccer player on
each arm. As they announced the player???s name they also announced where
each young player lived, and it was clear they were from every borough
in New York City.
The players did not shy away from using the media and their platform
even as the head of the USSF sat just two feet away.
???We are standing up for what we believe in. We are all standing up for
women in sports who are not getting opportunities or respect around the
world.??? When the co-captain of the team, Megan Rapinoe??, spoke she
explained further, ???To have a complete and informed conversation around
equal pay you have to talk about racial and gender inequity???not just
money, but equal rights.???
Fifty years ago, the passage of Title IX prohibited educational
institutions that receive any federal funding from discriminating on the
basis of sex. It guaranteed students the right to an environment free
from sexual harassment and protected the rights of pregnant students. In
addition, it required equal athletic opportunities for girls and boys.
That meant girls??? soccer teams.
Soccer has taken off as one of the most popular sports for young girls.
In the U.S. the number of girls playing high school soccer has increased
from 700 to 390,000. As a result of playing soccer from a young age,
their skills and abilities have also greatly improved, which means that
the crowds who show up to watch them have also increased.
Sixty thousand people packed into the stadium to watch the Women???s World
Cup this year. Fox Sports also reported viewership of 20 million,
including on-line streaming. Telemundo reported 1.6 million viewers on
the Spanish-language station. This is 22% higher than viewership of the
Men???s World Cup.
After inspecting the audited financial statements of the USSF, The Wall
Street Journal noted: ???The?? ability of the women???s team to generate gate
revenues that equals or exceeds the men???s team is an important
battleground and central to an ongoing lawsuit filed against the USSF by
28 members of the U.S. women???s national soccer team in March.???
Rapinoe and Kaepernick
Megan Rapinoe is one of the most popular players on the World Cup team.
That is not only because she kicked the winning goal in the World Cup
final, but because of her outspoken activism. When Rapinoe is not
playing for the USA Women???s Soccer Team, she plays professionally for
the Seattle Reign FC. It was before that team???s game in 2016 that
Rapinoe became the first female athlete to kneel in solidarity with NFL
quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
In response to questions from the press, she explained, ???Yes, it was
very intentional, being a gay American I know what it means to look at
the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something
small I could do as a nod to Colin Kaepernick and I intend to keep doing
it in the future. It is important to have white people stand in support
of people of color on this. We don???t need to be the leading voice, of
course, but standing in support of them is something really powerful.???
Rapinoe often pays tribute to Audre Lorde and wears her name on her
jersey. She explains why she chose her: ???She was a woman, a lesbian, a
feminist, a person of color, a civil rights activist. She understood so
clearly that change does not come from playing by the existing set of
rules.???
The week following the parade through New York City became a media tour
for the co-captains of the team. Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan were in
demand to appear on all the late-night talk shows as well as network
news interviews. The questions were all about pay equity and the status
of their lawsuit. Throughout the week, Rapinoe always found a way to
talk generally about equality and mention that the team had five gay
players and a gay coach. This was significant because for years lesbian
athletes and their coaches were forced to stay in the closet, although
it was always an open secret.
In August mediation broke down. The spokeswoman for the players
explained, ???It is clear that USSF and its Board of Directors fully
intend to continue to compensate women players less than men. They will
not succeed. Should the case go to Federal Court, the team is confident
in its ability to win.???
Rapinoe told the press, ???We won???t accept anything less than equal pay.
This is about women being treated equally in the workplace.???
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October 1, 2019 in LGBT rights, Sports, Women's Liberation.
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Clarence Darrow
??? I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of
God was the end of wisdom. ???
??? Clarence Darrow,
