One of the most prominent areas in which gender inequality exists is in sports. Throughout history, sports have been an area for which men can excel while women are either excluded or not given equal opportunity. Recently, US Soccer has been in the media for the discrepancies between compensation for the men’s and women’s teams.
Before we delve into the recent issues that have recently captured the media, I’m going to provide some background on the two teams.
The United States Men’s National Soccer Team played its first FIFA recognized international match in 1916 against Sweden. Since 1916, the team has appeared in ten World Cups with their best finish being third place during the inaugural tournament in 1930. They have failed to qualify for ten world cups, including the 2018 tournament. In terms of rankings, the USMNT have been ranked #4 as their highest, #36 as their lowest, and are currently at #25.
Image Courtesy of USA Today
On the other hand, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team did not get its start until 1985 when they defeated Italy in an international friendly. Since 1985, the team has had seven World Cup appearances with three wins coming in 1991, 1999, and 2015. They have qualified in every World Cup since its inception, with their worst finish being third place. In terms of rankings, the USWNT have been ranked #1 as their highest, #2 as their lowest, and are currently #1.
Image Courtesy of US Soccer
Based on the numbers alone, the women’s team has clearly had a superior performance to the men’s team. The women have always been ranked higher than the men and the women have always performed better in the World Cup than the men. So, it would be fair to assume that the women are paid more for their superior play. However, this is far from the case. The opposite is true, as the men receive greater compensation.
For the World Cup, the men’s team receives compensation for qualifier games, being on the roster, qualification, per game, first round, second round advancement, third place, second place, and winning. The USMNT would not know about the championship bonus because they have never gotten that far in the tournament. On the other hand, the women’s team only receives compensation for being on the roster, fourth place, third place, second place, and winning. Essentially, the women’s team needs to perform well to earn money while the men’s team just has to get their name on the roster. Maybe that is why the women’s team has won three tournaments while the men’s teams have failed to qualify for many.
This discrepancy holds true for friendly matches as well. In friendlies, the men’s team receives compensation for wins, ties and losses. The women’s team only receives compensation for wins.
There are several other factors to be considered too, including revenue generation and ratings. Before the women’s World Cup win in 2015, their revenue generation was less than that of the men. However, since then the women have brought in $6.6 million dollars while the men have only brought in $2 million. Yet the women still had to and continue to fight for fair pay.
Although this specific case deals with US Soccer, there are growing gender wage gaps in professional basketball and professional golf championships as well. Some of this is due to the fact that ratings and revenue are generally higher in men’s sports. However, the preference for men’s sports stems from a history of gender inequality in sports, as women were not able to get into the game until much later. Therefore, a negative spiral is created. This negative spiral results from women’s teams receiving inadequate funding thus less women turning pro thus less development of women’s professional leagues. Without the development of high quality professional leagues that can afford to pay their players with salaries that cover the cost of living, women’s sport will never reach their full potential in terms of talent or popularity.
While this seems like an issue that only impacts the players, it has wider ranging impacts. One of the most significant impacts is on the young girls who look to the players as role models. For example, two young girls I babysit idolize Alex Morgan, a forward on the USWNT. Both of the girls play soccer and aspire to be professionals, as many of us do at a young age. However, girls are not encouraged to be professional athletes because there are not many stable professional leagues. This is something that needs to change. Female athletes inspire girls across the country to be active and competitive and strong, three qualities that women have been shamed for in the past. We need to start using sports as a platform to create gender equality. We need to celebrate female athletes. We need to celebrate success of both genders in athletic endeavors. Creating societal change takes time, but each person can help make a difference. Each person can make an effort to tune into the WNBA or the NWSL or a USWNT game and see the talent that female athletes have to show the world.