The day has finally come! The ongoing dispute between the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation has finally come to an agreement; the lawsuit is settled.
Seen in headlines for years, shouts for equal pay have been brushed off and disregarded by the U.S. Soccer Federation.
So, when did this all start? The formal lawsuit was filed on March 8, 2019, just months before the World Cup. The suit alleged gender discrimination for both compensation from matches, and bonuses compared to the men’s team and the overall working and training conditions. The process began in 2016 when five U.S. Women’s National Team players filed a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A complaint must be filed to start the process of obtaining the right to sue. That initial claim got stuck inside the government with the changeover between the Obama and Trump administrations and nearly left the players hopeless.
After a couple years of waiting, the claim was approved, and the U.S. Women’s National Team was given the right to sue the U.S. Soccer Federation. But there was a kick- it had a 90-day expiration date. This expiration date fell right before their biggest tournament, the World Cup where the women were looking to defend their title. The timing may not have been ideal, but the players did what they needed to do in order to kickstart the process towards achieving the deserved equal pay with the men’s team.
The settlement between U.S. Soccer and the USWNT combines for a total of $24 million, where $22 million will be split between the players in the class action lawsuit while the extra $2 million will go towards charitable efforts. The settlement is great, but what does it mean for the future? Did the USWNT get their equal pay? Yes. While, the $24 million dollars has been dominating headlines, U.S. Soccer made the commitment in a news release saying they would provide “an equal rate of pay going forward for the women’s and men’s national teams in all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup.”
In the past, the men’s players would receive larger bonuses than the women but that will change from now on. The $24 million compensated the USWNT players from the past discrimination, and the recent pledge by U.S. Soccer will ensure equal compensation in the future. Although the $24 million is not comparable to the $67 million the players calculated they were entitled to, the $24 million is a sharp increase from U.S. Soccer’s previous offer of $9 million. The biggest win of the settlement is the equal compensation going forward. If the USWNT continues their winning trends, you can expect the USWNT players to rake in the money. The next step is to internally solve the settlement agreement and to divide the money among the players, which is up to the players to decide.
Now that the USWNT has finally won with U.S. Soccer, the next big step to provide equal opportunity for boys and girls across the world is to take on FIFA, an even bigger task. While U.S. soccer is just 1 of 211 members in FIFA, they have the influence and the opportunity to possibly change soccer for the entire world.