U.S. Women Soccer Champions Deserve Equal Pay

Yesterday, the U.S. Women’s National Team defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in the finals making them World Cup champions once again. While Americans worldwide celebrated this triumphant win, the real moment of victory has yet to come. While these spectacular female athletes scored two major goals yesterday, they’re also awaiting one final goal, the one that rules they deserve equal pay.

In a poignant moment after the U.S. team beat the Netherlands, people in the stadium began chanting “equal pay!” loud and clear. This incredible moment of support for the women’s soccer team shows how much they deserve equal pay and how hard they have worked to get here. Some people may be unaware that the U.S. Women’s National Team is currently litigating a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. “The lawsuit seeks to be a class action, representing other women who’ve played for the U.S. national team and who may have been denied equal pay for substantially equal work,” NPR reports.

For months leading up to the women’s world cup, the women’s soccer team have been demanding equal pay, which at this point, the matter is incredibly unfair and unjust. The gist of the ligation is that female soccer players deserve the same salary as male soccer players. But we think they actually deserve more, and here’s why: The U.S. male soccer team has never won a World Cup ever!

At this point we shouldn’t even be asking for #EqualPay for the #USWMNT – we should demand they be paid at least twice as much 😉 https://t.co/VXITg24UB3

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019

“We as players, every player at this World Cup, put on the most incredible show that you could ever ask for,” legendary Megan Rapinoe told The Guardian. “We cannot do anything more to impress more, to be better ambassadors, to take on more, to play better or do anything. It’s time to take it forward to the next step. A little public shame never hurt anybody, right? I’m down with the boos.”

Some people (or haters as we’d like to say) have said the women’s team does not bring in as much money as the men’s team, which is why the men get paid more. The argument is that more people watch the men’s World Cup, which means there are more sponsorship overall and ad revenue — but the times are changing.

The buzz and momentum with the women’s team are at an all-time high. In Europe, yesterday’s final showdown generated the most viewership ever, breaking records, which means there’s money to be made, and the women deserve equal pay.