Six years of conflict. A three-year lawsuit. A tireless fight. A $24 million payout.
On Tuesday, February 22, the U.S. women’s soccer team reached a $24 million settlement with the United States Soccer Federation, following a 2019 lawsuit over equal pay in which players alleged “institutional gender discrimination.” In addition, U.S. Soccer promised equal pay for men’s and women’s teams, including at the World Cup, The New York Times reported. That’s right: Going forward, the soccer federation will not discriminate in pay based on gender.
What about that old claim, that women athletes just can’t be paid as much as men—that men are better, more popular? According to reports from BuzzFeed News in 2020, lawyers for U.S. soccer filed court documents during the suit that claimed “indisputable science” proves that the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill” than the women’s team.
The players of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) can’t hear those complaints over the sounds of their bank accounts filling up. The 61 players involved in the lawsuit will share $22 million. An additional $2 million will be put into an account to which the women will be able to apply to fund projects after their retirement from soccer.
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Response so far from U.S. women players has been joyful. “I think we’re gonna look back on this day and say this is the moment that U.S. soccer changed for the better,” Megan Rapinoe said on Good Morning America, shortly after the agreement was announced. “Today is a great day and the work will always continue!” tweeted Ali Krieger. “To those of us fighting tirelessly within our workplace for equity, equality and respect, thank u! I’m proud to be a part of this powerful group!”
The victory is complex. The players initially asked for a $67 million settlement. In that light, the number they received looks more meager. But Andrew Das, reporting on the settlement for The New York Times, notes, “U.S. Soccer was under no obligation to settle with the women’s team; a federal judge in 2020 had dismissed the players’ equal pay arguments, stripping them of nearly all of their legal leverage, and the players’ appeal was not certain to succeed.”
In court documents, the women’s team had argued that they’ve been paid less “for substantially equal work and by denying them at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; equal promotion of their games; equal support and development for their games; and other terms and conditions of employment equal to the MNT.” After the dismissal by Judge R. Gary Klausner in May 2020, the team made clear that they were unwilling to drop the issue. “We are confident in our case and steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that girls and women who play this sport will not be valued as lesser just because of their gender,” Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for the players, said at the time.
On Tuesday, that commitment paid off, in every sense. In terms of the equal pay agreement, Rapinoe told ESPN, “There’s no other way to look at it than just a monumental win for women’s sports and women’s soccer, in particular.”
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.
