Rapinoe takes pay fight to Washington
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. So on Wednesday, Rapinoe testified in front of Congress, asking why women should not be paid equal to men who do the same jobs.
“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 governing body, calling for an investigation into unequal pay.
It wasn’t until December 2020, as the USSF underwent leadership changes, that tensions between the two subsided after a settlement on the working conditions claims of the 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 as ever to our work to achieve the equal pay that we legally deserve,” Molly Levinson, the USWNT’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 and fellow USWNT player Margaret Purce later spoke at a White House event with President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for Equal Pay Day, which marks the day it would have taken a woman to earn as much as a man in the same job did the year prior — 15 months of work for a woman for a man’s regular 12.
“When men began sports leagues they were supported by billions in taxpayer subsidies, they were prioritized in media and afforded time to grow,” Purce said. “The investment was incredible and the return was incredible. I have watched and joined a league of women, who are remarkable at their craft. And together we have asked for the same grace that was given to men in the formative years of their leagues. True investment.
“I have spoken of equal pay in formal settings such as this and in informal exchanges. And often I am resisted with the declarations like ‘there just are not enough people interested in women sports.’ My response to that is: You would never expect a flower to bloom without water, but women in sport who have been denied water, sunlight and soil are still expected to blossom.”