Women’s soccer is outrageously underpaid

Level+the+playing+field+%5C%5C+Celebrating+the+2016+World+Cup+U.S.A.+Womens+National+team+10-0+win%2C+a+young+Breanna+Wooten+wants+equal+pay+for+her+role+models.+That+is+insanely+preposterous+how+men+and+women+put+in+the+same+amount+of+hard+work+and+still%2C+after+all+this+time%2C+are+not+paid+equally%2C+Wooten+said.

photo credit: courtesy photo

Level the playing field \\ Celebrating the 2016 World Cup U.S.A. Womens National team 10-0 win, a young Breanna Wooten wants equal pay for her role models. “That is insanely preposterous how men and women put in the same amount of hard work and still, after all this time, are not paid equally,” Wooten said.

For quite sometime now, the Women’s National Soccer Team has fought for equal pay. Alex Morgan (30) the world-renowned women’s soccer superstar, earns $450,000 per year, while a not as well-known athlete, who plays for the U.S men’s soccer team, Christian Pulisic (21) is paid $1.1 million annually. They practice for the same hours a week and both play almost every weekend.

That is insanely preposterous how men and women put in the same amount of hard work and still, after all this time, are not paid equally.

When the men’s team can successfully surpass the women in World Cup wins and revenue earned, then it would be understandable for the pay difference, but until then, pay the women’s players equally.

— Breanna Wooten, freshman

The Women’s National Team has won four World Cup Titles and the Men’s National Team has won a whopping zero. The men’s team has a hard enough time even qualifying for the World Cup while the women qualify almost every year. The men get paid double the women’s salary and are not near as successful. According to https://www.usatoday.com 48,121 people came to see the champion Women’s U.S.A. team play in a single match. In comparison according to https://worldsoccertalk.com, only 11,161 people came to watch the men’s game; the women’s team has even taken this unfair issue to court; they even won and still see no difference in pay.

It is a common misconception that men bring in more revenue, so they get paid more; however, from 2016 to 2018, women’s soccer games generated about $50.8 million in revenue compared to $49.9 million for the men according to PolitiFact. The U.S Soccer Association spends more on the men, but the women bring in more money.

The U.S Soccer Association should either cut the men’s pay to match the women ́s, or make the women’s pay match the men’s, because women are generating them much more money, but aren’t compensated equally or fairly.

When the men’s team can successfully surpass the women in World Cup wins and revenue earned, then it would be understandable for the pay difference, but until then, pay the women’s players equally.