U.S. Soccer stars file federal complaint for wage discrimination—and their case looks strong
The women of U.S. Soccer are taking their equality fight to a whole new level, officially
filing a federal discrimination claim against the U.S. Soccer organization for wage discrimination:
In the filing, the five players contend that the women’s team is the driving economic force for U.S. Soccer, the governing body for the sport in America, even as its players are paid far less than their counterparts on the men’s national team, said their lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler.
The players involved in the complaint are among the most prominent and decorated female athletes in the world: the co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Alex Morgan, midfielder Megan Rapinoe and goalkeeper Hope Solo.
Their complaint appears to be totally valid.
Goalkeeper Hope Solo makes the case in a statement released by the women who
filed the complaint:
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Solo said. “We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, four Olympic championships, and the U.S.M.N.T. get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”
The players and their attorney are
confident in their case:
Jeffrey Kessler, the New York-based attorney for the players, said the women's national team members are paid 40 percent of what the U.S. men's national team players make.
"This is one of the strongest cases of gender discrimination I have ever seen," Kessler told USA TODAY Sports. "We have a situation here where the women's have outperformed the men on the field and in every other way yet earn fraction of what the men are paid. This is pretty open and shut case."
They may possibly have a good case. But if it is the same standard that they want across the board, then Hope Solo should have been at least suspended for domestic abuse and the USA Olympic handicapped teams should be paid the same as all else.
