What determines the equity in sports? It is an ethical issue that should concern everyone, especially the parents and grandparents of girls. Do women deserve equal pay to men in the same sport? The WNBA has been arguing this point, without success, for years. Critics of the debate will argue the NBA is infinitely better, more talented and more popular. By that standard, the U.S. women’s national soccer team should be placed above the men’s team. They aren’t, and that’s the problem. However, those standards are not legal standards.
Gender Discrimination Lawsuit – What Determines Equity in Sports?
There is a pending lawsuit in the federal courts that has been filed by nearly 30 members of the women’s professional soccer community. The suit charges there is gender-based pay discrimination of the women’s team versus the men’s team. They are suing in accordance with the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
It is hard to argue against their case on ethical grounds. In 2015, the women’s soccer team won the World Cup. The team shared a bonus of $1.73 million. The men’s team never made it out of the preliminary round in the 2014 World Cup and split a $5.38 million bonus. The men didn’t even get a sniff at the 2018 World Cup.
Though other lawsuits have been brought forward by women’s versus men’s coaches, the arguments pale in comparison to what the women’s soccer team has accomplished versus the men’s team.
Medals, accolades, and stress
The women’s team, by every measure, is the number one team in the world.
In recent years, the U.S. women’s team has outperformed the men’s national team in rankings. They are the best team worldwide. Aside from the Women’s World Cup win, they have won gold medals in 2004, 2008 and the 2012 Olympics. The men’s team hasn’t won a gold medal since 1904.
However, the comparison doesn’t stop there. The women’s team has a higher television viewership and they are required to make more frequent public relations appearances. The 2015 Women’s World Cup win was the highest audience viewership in U.S. Soccer history. The women’s team trains as hard as the men and in addition, they played 19 more games than the men over the three-year period from 2015 to 2018.
And it isn’t a matter of money. After the women’s performance, U.S. Soccer (according to the federal lawsuit) went from a loss for both teams of nearly $430,000 to a profit of nearly $18 million.
U.S. Soccer
In 2017, the U.S. women’s national team ratified a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). According to Sports Illustrated (April 5, 2017):
“The new CBA also provides: A significant increase in direct compensation and bonus compensation; enhanced ‘lifestyle’ benefits for the players with respect to travel and hotels; per diems that are equal to those of the men’s team; and greater financial support for players who are pregnant and players adopting a child.”
At that time, the lawyers and players felt the pay rates were more equitable, not equal. They wanted equal pay but were denied. They were “satisfied” pending a sense of where their sport was going to go but by no means were they pleased with the disparity.
While the CBA will not expire until 2021, it is obvious that the women’s sport is thriving while the men’s program is languishing.
There are other pending lawsuits however, this is also an ethical issue as well as a legal debate. It seems as though U.S. Soccer, while finally becoming profitable, is failing to recognize who has made them this way and who has elevated the sport. They are fighting the women’s claims every step of the way.
How do they rationalize a lack of recognition of the women as at least equal partners of the men’s programs? Unfortunately, it would seem the arguments are gender-biased. It is not a matter of legal arguments, but of doing what is ethically correct. Millions of Americans will be watching the women’s team this coming season because they are winners. It is time these winners are equally compensated and modify what determines equity in sports?
