The U.S. women’s soccer team receives much less funding and attention than their male counterparts despite being dramatically better and everyone knows why.
Sexism is rife throughout the sports world and it’s time women got the credit they deserve.
The women’s soccer team qualified for the Olympics yet again, while the men’s team has failed to qualify for the last 13 years, according to a March 28 New York Times article.
The soccer teams are among the most blatant displays of modern day sexism in sports, but this issue has existed everywhere since women’s sports were first popularitized.
Women pushed for competitive sports in colleges for decades, but were met with adversity from male-dominated administrations who didn’t want to “lose control” over their athletic programs, according to a March 14, 2008 article from The Sport Journal.
Women’s sports in the U.S. drastically changed during World War II.
Most men left for war and characters such as “Rosie the Riveter” encouraged the idea that women could perform equally to men. The All-American Girls Baseball League was created in 1943 in an attempt to replace the MLB, which was paused because of the war.
It was the first professional women’s sports team in American history.
Women were still treated as less than men in the sports world despite this advancement. The passage and implementation of Title IX was supposed to equal the playing field for collegiate women across the U.S., but large institutions such as the NCAA pushed to limit the legislation’s effect on sports. The NCAA only made space for women to play when the organization’s popularity and influence was threatened by growing interest in women’s sports.
Men’s and women’s professional sports are kept mostly segregated today and are treated completely different.
For example, the U.S. women’s soccer team has fought for equal support and pay since 2019. The women cited lesser pay, worse working conditions and improper venues as
part of the reason for their lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, according to a December 1 NPR article.
It’s hard to calculate exact numbers because the men’s and women’s teams have different contracts. Women have a base salary of $100,000, but receive no losing bonuses. Meanwhile, men have no base salary, but receive a $5,000 losing bonus – yes, a losing bonus – according to a July 8, 2019 Washington Post article.
According to the same article, women make $28,333 less in an average 20-game season.
The prize money for the 2019 Women’s World Cup was $30 million, while the total prize money for the 2019 Men’s World Cup was $400 million. Each woman on the winning team walked away with $4 million, while each man walked away with $38 million.
The soccer federation and the Women’s National Team agreed on a partial settlement to improve working conditions and was officiated on Monday, but nothing has been done to address the pay gap. The team is now in the process of filing an appeal to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s decision.
Throughout their court hearing, the women had to sit and listen to bogus, sexist and ancient arguments about their physical capabilities affecting their treatment, according to a March 11, 2020 Washington Post article.
According to the same article, officials from the U.S. Soccer Federation stated in a pretrial hearing “the overall soccer-playing ability required to compete at the senior men’s national team level is materially influenced by the level of certain physical attributes such as speed and strength, required for the job.”
The federation also stated biological differences are “indisputable science” and men’s soccer “requires a higher level of skill.”
Women reading this probably just rolled their eyes because we’ve all heard the same, tiring argument. Everyone knows there are biological differences between men and women, but women’s athleticism is just as valuable as men’s.
This is especially true in the case of U.S. soccer. The Women’s National Team is currently considered the best international women’s soccer team in the world. The team has four Women’s World Cup titles, four Olympic gold medals and eight Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football gold cups under its belt.
Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s soccer team hasn’t won a World Cup title since 1950 and hasn’t even qualified for the last three Olympics. The difference in these two teams’ contributions is so staggering, one might question the physical capabilities of American men.
The U.S. women’s soccer team is only one story in the ongoing fight for gender equity in sports. Women’s contributions to sports are of as much value to the world as men’s, if not more in some situations. The world needs to acknowledge these women for what they are:
professional athletes.
