US women's soccer team's fight for equal pay resurfaces heading toward Tokyo Olympics

 When the final whistle blew in the Stade de Lyon in France, the United States women’s soccer team stormed the pitch. After 90 minutes of the biggest match of their lives, the team was ready to lift the 2019 World Cup trophy after defeating the Netherlands, 2-0.

The on-field celebrations that year were much of the same: hugs, tears, cheering. But, in the stands, something was different. Instead of the usual "U-S-A" chants, the crowd yelled “Equal Pay!”

The team's fight for its fourth World Cup had just ended, but a new battle had just begun.

As the United States Women's National Team team now readies for its path to Tokyo, where they will vie to be the first team in women’s soccer history to win a World Cup and Olympic gold back-to-back, the calls for equal pay for women in sports have reignited.

The dialogue resurfaced with last week's release of HBO Max’s “LFG” documentary, which follows the team’s fight for equal pay beginning when the team sued its employer, U.S. Soccer, just three months before the 2019 World Cup.

Last week, a group of U.S. senators also re-introduced the Even Playing Field Act, a bill that calls for equal pay, investment and working conditions for all national team athletes, coaches and personnel. The bill was first introduced in July 2019 on the heels of the World Cup.

The national team has been outspoken in its fight for equal pay over the years. The “equal pay” chant is now commonplace in the stands of professional women’s soccer games – somewhat of a rallying cry for the team’s countless supporters. Earlier this year, forward Megan Rapinoe testified virtually during a hearing by the House Oversight Committee that focused on women being underpaid in the workplace.

"What we've learned, and what we continue to learn, is that there is no level of status – and there's no accomplishment or power – that will protect you from the clutches of inequity," Rapinoe said in her testimony. "One cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination of any kind."

Rapinoe also spoke at the White House on Equal Pay Day – which symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work to earn what male peers earned the year prior.

The USWNT’s lawsuit, led by star striker Alex Morgan, was filed on International Women’s Day in 2019. The suit alleged that the team has been subjected to years of unequal treatment and compensation, despite winning several World Cups and Olympic gold.

In April, a federal judge approved a partial settlement in the matter – which paved the way for the team to file an appeal against a rejection by that same judge last year.

Last year, Judge R. Gary Klausner, of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, rejected the players’ most important claims that they were systemically underpaid by U.S. Soccer. In the days following the settlement's approval, the team asked a federal appeals court to overturn Klausner’s earlier decision.

“For each win, loss and tie that women players secure, they are paid less than men who play the same sport and who do the same work; that is gender discrimination,” players’ spokeswoman Molly Levinson said in a statement at the time. “A pervasive atmosphere of sexism drove this pay discrimination.”

Both parties have been asked to submit briefs over the summer.

Bigger than sports

The women’s national team will likely be a North Star for equal pay for women in sports, and women in the workplace. On a broader scale, achieving equity at the highest level of sport could translate into improvements across the board – including for youth.

Kim Turner, project director and a senior staff attorney at Fair Play for Girls in Sports, said there is a connection between how female athletes at the pro and college levels are treated and how youth female athletes are treated.

“One can easily connect the dots between a middle or high school girl experiencing inferior locker rooms, team rooms, practice and play facilities and a college where pro female athletes are similarly subjugated by the city, the program, the league in comparison to their male counterparts,” Turner said.

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