Rapinoe strikes a World Cup pose, demands equality

MEGAN Rapinoe (pic) was already loud and unapologetic before the Women’s World Cup started this summer. Might she tone it down before joining her teammates in a bid for another title?

No chance. In fact, she toned it up. Rapinoe topped her look with a shock of pink hair. Perfect for confronting a public with both athletic excellence and an argument for pay equity.

The US women’s national team midfielder and her teammates made it impossible to disentangle the two concepts.

Especially after the bully-in-chief, President Donald Trump, tweeted about Rapinoe after she said she wouldn’t visit the expletive White House if she won.

“I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job!” Trump tweeted.

Much as Trump wanted to stick to sports during the women’s World Cup, that wasn’t happening. Fans chanted “EQUAL PAY!” to celebrate the US wins, and Rapinoe appeared to relish the pressure.

Her post-goal posture, arms outstretched as though welcoming praise and criticism, was a challenge issued in triumph.

“When I see myself making people uncomfortable,” Rapinoe said, “I’m like, Yes.”

The US women finished the job, Rapinoe won the Golden Boot with a tournament best six goals and earned the Sports Story of the

Year in the process.

Being a woman and a professional athlete is an inherently revolutionary act.

It may not seem so at first, and it is less so now than it was 40 years ago, but there is still an element of transgressing social norms when a woman chooses to make a living in a traditionally male space.

It’s a tenant that is enforced through economics, which allows an entity like football to claim neutrality while paying the championship women less than a men’s team that don’t always qualify for the World Cup.

Those are the same norms that allow women across the board to be paid less than men.

That allow black and Hispanic women to be paid less than their white equals.

That allow jobs considered women’s work to pay less generally, and to have those same wages go up when more men enter the field.

At 34, Rapinoe has been around long enough to know that winning doesn’t solve the wage gap, and that positive thinking isn’t a pay cheque. Sometimes, you have to fight, and the USWNT are currently suing US Soccer. That suit will go to trial this spring, and it could be ugly. But the women’s football team have a fanbase, and perhaps even a few legislators, on their side. In the early 1970s, King led the fight for women in tennis to be paid, if not equally, then close enough to eventually get there. Even now tennis is the most lucrative sport to play, where mid-tier tennis players can have a successful career. When Rapinoe won the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best player this month, she used her acceptance speech to point out the voices who could lead on the issue, but have not. “I want to shout: ‘Cristiano, Lionel, Zlatan, help me!’ “Rapinoe told the audience. “These big stars do not engage in anything when there are so many problems in men’s football. Do they fear losing everything? They believe that, but it is not true. “Who will erase Messi or Ronaldo from world football history for a statement against racism or sexism?” In May, Rapinoe is facing US Soccer in court to talk about what it means to value a team, women and a winner who spent the summer asking pointed questions about who gets paid what for leading the team to international titles.