Jacid “Jesse” Prado
Ron Willner
Diversity in Sport
4 May 2020
If They Play Better, They Deserve to be Paid Better
Despite reaching more success than the men’s team, The United States National Women’s
Soccer Team is making far less pay than their male counterparts. A debate has risen in the past
couple of years as to why these players are bringing home so much less. Numerous female
players on the National team have decided to sue the United States soccer federation to combat
the gender pay gap.
A gender pay gap in the United States of America is not breaking news. It has been
around as long as wages have and even today, it is a highly debated topic that affects almost
every single profession. Women are not being paid as much as men when it comes to holding the
same position, completing the same tasks, and despite having the same qualifications. While yes,
the gender wage gap has gotten smaller in recent years. In the year 2015, the same year the
United State’s Women’s Team won gold at the FIFA World Women’s Cup, women were making
around 80% of the men’s salary in the U.S. As of the current year, 2020, differences in pay range
from 83 to 90 cents in the top 20 pay gap occupations, which might not seem like a lot at first
glance, but when calculating the total amount of money earned at the end of one’s career, those
extra cents add up to around 80,000 dollars lost due to just being a female. As of now, we are
discussing jobs such as Sales Representatives and Anesthesiologists, if we transition to the world
of sports, the pay gap increases extraordinarily.
Prado 2
The United States Men’s National Team, or USMNT for short, has won a total of a
whopping 0 World Cups in the history of the FIFA World Cup. The farthest the USMNT has ever
made it in a World Cup was in 2002 when their run was stopped by Germany in the quarterfinals
with a loss of 1-0. The United States Women’s National Team, or USWNT for short, has 4 World
Cup titles. They won the very first Women’s World Cup in 1991, they won in 1999, and the last
two tournaments in 2015 and 2019. Out of every other World cup, the USWNT finished in
second or third place.
This gender pay gap is not a matter of “success”. If it was, the women’s team would be
making far more because they win far more. In the Summer Olympics, since being able to
compete in 1996, the USWNT has won gold in every single tournament except for 2012, where
