Global Women’s Soccer Has a Pay Problem
Global Women’s Soccer Has a Pay Problem
(Bloomberg) --
The U.S. women’s soccer team has won three World Cup championships since 1991, the first time the global competition was open to women. And when the tournament begins next month in France, the U.S. will be a heavy favorite to defend its 2015 title.
The U.S. men’s team, on the other hand, has never won the World Cup—its best result was a third place finish in 1930. Most recently, the team failed to qualify for the 2022 tournament.
In one way, though, the players on the men’s team are doing far better: They earn more. On a per-game basis, men who play for the national team make more than the women do, a discrepancy that’s become fodder for a pay discrimination suit against U.S. Soccer, which oversees both squads.
This week’s bonus episode of The Pay Check tackles pay equity in global women’s soccer. Host Rebecca Greenfield talks with Bloomberg sports business reporter Eben Novy-Williams about the U.S. women’s claim that they deserve equal pay for equal work, followed by a live taping from a panel at the Blomberg Equality Summit in London featuring English soccer legend Kelly Smith; head of the Women’s Super League, Kelly Simmons; and Lenah Ueltzen-Gabell, managing director of the Middle East and Europe for sports marketing agency Wasserman.
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