The U.S. Women’s National Team have tentatively agreed to mediation involving pay discrimination following the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
ESPN reported on Friday that the 28 members of the USWNT who filed a discrimination suit against U.S. Soccer will have their chance to speak later this summer.
Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, and Megan Rapinoe are among the players who filed the suit back on March 8th. The lawsuit alleges “institutionalized gender discrimination” towards the team.
Equitable pay and treatment are the leading requests from the USWNT including back pay for the team which has won three World Cups and four Olympic Gold Medals.
The team also made complaints back in 2016 involving the same requests but it was later stalled.
Currently the USWNT are heading into the Round of 16 in France where they will take on Spain. Jill Ellis’ side rolled to a 3-0-0 record in group stage play, outscoring its opponents 18-0.
The final for the Women’s World Cup is slated for July 7th.
Agreeing to Mediation is a start, but unless that mediator has a stellar reputation as a Judge, it probably will not pull a lot of weight with one side or the other. I would rather have seen both sides agree to Binding Arbitration. When you have that, it typically motivates both sides to attempt to come to an agreement without the arbitration having to take place. Both sides have to weigh the litigating hazards and try and find some common ground. In any case, I am seeing a long and drawn out process with respect to the salary matter.
While I like Megan and the attitude she brings to playing soccer for the USWNT, bringing personal issues to the workplace is not helping her gain support for the team salary matter. Having been an advocate for a workplace bargaining unit for 20 years, I can state, without fear of contradiction, that if you alienate the company’s customers (in this case, the fans) you will find the employer (in this case USA Soccer) very unsympathetic to your cause. Everyone on the USWNT can be replaced. Hope Solo found that out the hard way. Megan needs to begin thinking with her head instead of her heart if she wants to really help the USWNT Salary negotiations!!!!
Don’t deserve more.
No one in the World pays their females anywhere close to “Men National Team”. But at least, their females RESPECT their “NATIONAL ANTHEM”!
It’s about 8 Euro for a World Cup game and yet average below 18k…..hahaha
Ratings Women World Cup is under 50 million viewers (Compare to Men World Cup about 2 billion viewer).
It’s probably not that much difference and we are comparing a #1 team with a ridiculous resume to a #30 team. The revenue should be greatly in favor of the women’s.
I love watching the USWNT and rarely miss a match. I have the greatest respect and admiration for these champions. Problem is, not that many share my passion for the team or for the Women’s World Cup, which is a shame. So they have a product which sells, but at a lower level…that’s the problem.
Read an article recently that said the women have drawn more fans to their games than the men over the last couple of years. I’m not saying that’s the end of the story, but the revenue disparity between the men and the women may not be as great as we all assume.