Megan Rapinoe says despite soccer success, she has been 'dismissed because I am a woman’

During an event at the White House to mark Equal Pay Day, Megan Rapinoe, a member of the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team, said she has been "disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman,” despite her team’s many victories.

Video Transcript

MEGAN RAPINOE: I'm also a professional athlete. And I've helped, along with all of my teammates virtually here today, one teammate literally here today, win four World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals for the United States. And despite those wins, I've been devalued. I've been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman. And I've been told that I don't deserve any more than less because I am a woman.

You see despite all the wins, I'm still paid less than men who do the same job that I do. For each trophy, of which there are many, and for each win, for each tie and for each time that we play, it's less. And I know there are millions of people who are marginalized by gender in the world and experience the same thing in their jobs. And I know that there are people who experience even more where the layers of discrimination continue to stack against them.

And I and my teammates are here for them. We on the US Women's National team today are here because of them. We also know what it means not only to have allies but to be allies.

We know what it means when people kneel to kneel with them. We know what it means when people stand and cheer. And we know what it's like to be in a full stadium, thousands and thousands of people who chant together all at once at our moment of greatest triumph, equal pay, equal pay.