It’s July 5, 2015. BC Place in Vancouver is packed to the brim with 53,000 fans and 555 million more are watching from their screens at home. The energy is palpable as the US Women’s National Soccer Team lines up against Japan’s for the final game of the World Cup. Three minutes into the game, Carli Lloyd finds the back of the net. The stadium explodes, and is still celebrating as Lloyd scores again only 2 minutes later. All around the world, everyone from young girls to old men are glued to their screens, watching the electric game. The final whistle blows. It’s 5-2, the US Women powering past Japan in an exclamation mark of a game to win the World Cup, the biggest competition in soccer. When the women get back, they are interviewed, given a ticker tape parade through New York City, and treated like celebrities. But when it was all said and done, they walked away with only 2 million dollars collectively for their win.

They would go on to do the same thing in 2019. A thrilling tournament ended in a 2-1 win over the Netherlands to win the World Cup back to back. Yet, they only walked away with 4 million collectively in reward for their accomplishments from FIFA. These numbers are not comparable to the men’s World Cup. The winners in 2014, Germany, received 35 million dollars for their win, equivalent to the total amount of money given to all the teams in the Women’s World Cup. Not only are the pay disparities international, they are national as well. 

In 2015, 5 members of the USWNT (US Women’s National Team) filed a discrimination complaint against US Soccer, the governing body of the national teams in the United States. They argued that they were paid $150,000 less for playing the same amount of non-tournament games as their male counterparts. They also sued that they were not given equal hotel accommodations, professional staff, and flights as the USMNT. Their argument is validated by the fact that they have generated almost 2 million more dollars for US Soccer than the men have, which makes sense. The women have won 4 World Cups, while the men have not won any, and more recently, failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. 

In the past few years, US Soccer has made small moves to correct the disparities, including better flights and accommodations, as well as more staff for the USWNT. Most recently, US Soccer struck a deal for the USWNT and USMNT to have identical contracts, with a centralized sharing of World Cup winnings and revenue. This deal both shortchanges the women and reveals the deep rooted sexism ingrained in our largest organizations. 

On the national level, the women are being asked to share their winnings with the men’s national team, by putting it in a collective pot and splitting it. The men would be asked to do the same. However, the men are not anticipated to add much, while the women are likely to add quite a bit. And, the amount of money the women have is already very small, because of the discrepancies at the international level. The international governing body of soccer, FIFA, is not sharing funds from the men’s soccer with the women’s soccer. The economic differences are clear. US Soccer is asking the women to share their success with the men when FIFA is not funding women’s soccer from the historic success of the men. While these discrepancies are happening at different levels of soccer government, it is the responsibility of people at every level to realize the inequalities and try to fix them.

Historically, men have never had to share with women, especially when the systems in place have given them the advantage over the women. When men had success, they were the only ones who were allowed to control their land and money. When men gain power politically, they aren’t asked to share that power with a female counterpart. Male basketball players have never been asked to share with the women, even when they have been successful. And suddenly, when female soccer players are successful, they are being asked to split it with the men. This might be regarded as ‘equal pay’, but it is in no way fair or equal to the women. What would be seen as ‘equal’ between the men and women would be shortchanging the women of what they deserve.

US Soccer has funded the men’s national team for decades without sharing those funds with the women. The women have consistently gotten less money and time poured into them, and when they finally have success, it is not acceptable for US Soccer to ask the women to share with the men. The USMNT has never had to share with the USWNT, even when they were making so much more than the women. When women are successful, the rewards of that success belong to the women and the women only, and it is not equal or fair for them to be expected to do anything else.