After Winning the World Cup, the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Is Going After Their Biggest Goal: Equal Pay
Bouncing off the stands of the Stade de Lyon was the chant that shook the cultural consciousness: “Equal pay! Equal pay!” The pay disparity between male and female sports figures has been recognized for some time, but the women’s World Cup brought it to new prominence. In recent years, a male soccer player on the U.S. national team could earn up to $13,166 per victory in a nontournament game, while a similarly situated female player would make only $4,950. The pot of prize money awarded to victorious male World Cup players last year was $400 million; this year, the female champions split $30 million.
Months before cocaptains Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan led the U.S. Women’s Soccer team to their fourth World Cup championship, they and 26 of their teammates filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation for these disparities. After returning home from France, they were at once basking in a jubilant celebration—a ticker-tape parade down the canyons of New York, strangers on the street putting babies in their arms—and steeling themselves for an upcoming mediation with the USSF.
With the fight ahead very much on their minds, the two team leaders met on a steamy, rainy day in lower Manhattan to try on a different kind of uniform—and discuss the future of the game that they so clearly love. “The win was much bigger than a world championship,” says Morgan, whose soft-spoken tone belies an inner determination. The Los Angeles native is headed back to Florida, where she plays for the Orlando Pride, just days after we speak, and then will fly on to L.A. to see her husband, Servando Carrasco, a member of the L.A. Galaxy. “I haven’t been in one place for more than two days,” she says, laughing. But despite her hectic schedule, she is hyperfocused on the path ahead. “We are standing up for what we believe in,” she says, “and we’re standing up for other women in sports who aren’t getting opportunities or respect around the world.” (WNBA salaries, for example, max out at around $116,000, while NBA players are paid at least $500,000.) Rapinoe knows personally how the issue plays out in other leagues: Her girlfriend of three years, Sue Bird, plays for the WNBA.
“To have a complete and informed conversation around equal pay, you have to talk about gender inequity and racial inequity,” says Rapinoe. She sees this fight as not just about money but about fundamental human rights. “It sounds corny, but are you going to treat people with respect or aren’t you?” Rapinoe—one of the first female athletes to kneel for the National Anthem in solidarity with NFL player Colin Kaepernick back in 2016—has long been a critic of President Trump, despite hailing from what she describes as “total Trump country” (the small northern California town of Redding). During a pre-championship interview, the Seattle Reign forward famously declared that “I’m not going to the fucking White House” were her team to win. (Her twin sister, Rachel, has tried to limit the F-bombs: “Rachel was like, Mom has concerns,” Rapinoe reports. “No more F-words in public.”) But she’s eager to make this an issue that builds bridges rather than divides. “I am totally down for bipartisanship,” she says. “The next step is really pushing the conversation forward.”
As important as a legal or legislative triumph would be, Rapinoe underlines that there are many ways to fight this fight. She’s writing a book (to be published by Penguin Press in 2020), while also working on another title aimed at young adults. She’s looking ahead to the 2020 elections, and expresses admiration for both “rock-star baller” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi, with her seasoned wisdom. A day trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, is about the only break she’ll take before getting back to her regular, multifaceted work. “Everybody has a personal responsibility to do something,” says Rapinoe. “I am in front of the press basically every day. That’s my lane, and I feel comfortable in it. But there are a million other lanes.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
