Infographic Fun: Wage Gap between the US National Soccer Teams
I made this infographic in celebration of Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn settling their lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation. They received a $24 million settlement and “according to the terms of the settlement, U.S. Soccer will pay men and women at an equal rate in the future in all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup.”
The question most women’s soccer fans ask: Why wouldn’t the women not be paid as much as the men? And I don’t just mean with respect to gender equality; I mean looking at their performance at the international level, it doesn’t make much sense. I know that men’s sports are generally more popular and generate more revenue, but if I’m being honest, how the little the women were paid in comparison to the men was quite shameful.
You’ll notice that the salary shown in the infographic is only for 2013-2016; the women received an undisclosed pay raise in 2017. Now, if the women were receiving equal pay or even more than the men, I bet US Soccer Federation would have shouted it from the rooftops. However, given that there were no such declarations, I assume they were still being paid less than the men.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the women are champions: The women’s soccer team have been outperforming the men’s team on the international stage over the past 30 years. Finally, the women will be receiving the compensation they deserve.
I didn’t even include the difference between the World Cup prize monies ($400 million for the men, $30 million for the women) because that’s a FIFA decision, not the US Soccer Federation’s. It’s still a crazy comparison: the women’s team who wins the World Cup only receives 7.5% of the prize money that a men’s team would.
Resources
Here’s how much Women’s World Cup soccer players are paid compared to men
Various Wikipedia pages with Olympic rankings