Female Athletes, and the U.S. Soccer Team’s Lawsuit Against the Federation

By Neha Regis

Last year the women’s soccer team won the FIFA World Cup, but most of us didn't know about the controversy that had been taking place after their first game against Thailand. The thirteen goals that they scored were plastered all over the news, yet people still managed to find a way to criticize the team.

Many people said they were “put off” by their celebrations after scoring, saying that they were, “disgraceful” and being “unnecessary.” However, the players didn’t actually do anything wrong. In an article from the Washington Post, Rachel Allison writes that “People still react negatively when women express the competitiveness and aggression that are routine in men’s sports.” Society requires that women have a certain level of class while competing in sports. Anyone breaking those rules immediately gets hit with undeserved backlash.

In 2009, the one and only Serena Williams addressed a judge with inappropriate language and was charged $10,000. The famous Federer said something similar and was given a much lesser fine. Sexism is not a new thing in sports. FIFA’s former President Blatter has been known for his sexist remarks towards women, suggesting that they wear tighter shorts to get people interested in their games.

The prize money for the Women’s World Cup was raised to $30 million dollars, but the men are still given $400 million. We have proved over and over again that women can do the same thing that men can do but still aren’t being treated as equals. We must ask ourselves why women get a couple million dollars and undeserved backlash, while men get almost 14 times that and glory and fame.

All women deserve to be paid the same as men, but women of different races are getting paid even less than the American team. The New York Times reported that players from Thailand’s team are earning $159 to $6,345 each year while U.S. team members earn $167,500 to $350,000. It’s one thing to have gender determine your salary, but having your race be a factor too is even worse.

In response to all of this, the U.S. team filed a lawsuit against the Federation for gender discrimination before the World Cup, but their efforts were ignored by the federal judge. His reason being that many of them had earned more than male athletes. The judge, Klausner, set another trial date for May 2020, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Everyone knows about sexism, but no one wants to acknowledge or do anything to change it. FIFA has the money to better back the women’s teams with their $2.7 billion reserved for them, but improvements are yet to be seen. The fact is most people are extremely undereducated on the amount of sexism that women face, no matter what their career is. It has gotten to a point where it’s naturally ingrained in the brains of most people without them even trying. We must break these barriers and show people the true state of our world. Because if people don’t know what’s going on, then how can we expect them to change? But we can find hope in the actions female athletes have taken to fight it!