National soccer star, Redding native Rapinoe testifies in the House regarding equal pay for men’s and women’s soccer team
Megan Rapinoe knows this fight all too well.
Rapinoe and the U.S. women’s national soccer team have been in and out of courts trying to get equal pay for themselves and champion women all around the world still facing gender-based wage disparities. Yes, it’s 2021 and even women on the biggest stages in the country still have to explain why they should be paid equal to their male counterparts. So on Wednesday, Rapinoe testified in front of Congress in a hearing stipulating that women really do get paid less than men and why women should be paid equal
STEP 1 - STEP 2 - STEP 3 - to men who do the same jobs around the country.
“What we’ve learned and what we continue to learn is that there is no level of status, accomplishments, or power that will protect you from the clutches of inequity,” Rapinoe said. “One cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination of any kind.
“The United States Women’s National team has won four World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals on behalf of our country,” Rapinoe continued. “We have filled stadiums, broken viewing records, and sold out jerseys, all popular metrics by which we are judged. Yet despite all of this, we are still paid less than men — for each trophy, of which there are many, each win, each tie, each time we play. Less.”
Rapinoe and the USWNT have been in the midst of a nasty gender discrimination and equal pay lawsuit with the U.S. Soccer Federation since 2019. That legal battle, however, initially started in 2016 when the team filed a federal discrimination complaint against the team’s governing body, calling for an investigation into unequal pay between the USWNT and their male counterparts, despite often having higher ratings and viewership.
It wasn’t until December 2020, as the USSF underwent leadership changes, that tensions between the two subsided a bit after reaching a settlement on the working conditions claims of the team’s lawsuit — it resolved issues the team raised about differences in travel, hotel accommodations, staffing and even venues of play between the women’s and men’s national teams, but did not specifically address previous working conditions.
The lawsuit was dismissed by a judge in May, but the settlement reached between the two opened the possibility for the team to appeal the equal pay claims of the suit.
“We remain as committed
LISTING as ever to our work to achieve the equal pay that we legally deserve,” Molly Levinson, the WNT’S spokesperson, said then. “Our focus is on the future and ensuring we leave the game a better place for the next generation of women who will play for this team and this country.”
Rapinoe was also scheduled to speak at the White House with President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on Wednesday for an Equal Pay event.
Full transcript of Rapinoe’s opening remarks:
“What we’ve learned and what we continue to learn is that there is no level of status, accomplishments, or power that will protect you from the clutches of
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SERVICE CLUB inequity. One cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination of any kind.
“I am here today because I know firsthand that this is true. We are told in this country that if you just work hard and continue to achieve — you will be rewarded, fairly. It’s the promise of the American dream. But that promise has not been for everyone.
“The United States Women’s National team has won four World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals on behalf of our country. We have filled stadiums, broken viewing records, and sold out jerseys, all popular metrics by which we are judged.”
ENHANCED
WHEATLAND,