Sit back, close your eyes and imagine this: you train every day, in the heat, rain, cold, and wind, ultimately to play 90 minutes in a battle. This sport is your life, requiring constant running, sweating, and calculated nutrition. You are a professional athlete in the game of soccer. You are preparing for the World Cup, and after months of grueling training, it is here. You compete and perform at your highest level with flawless execution, winning the whole tournament that lasts over two months. Congratulations! However, you are still rewarded less than the 'equivalent' U.S. Men's national team, that only managed to advance to the second round of the tournament. This is the reality of the U.S. Women's National team, despite their success and overwhelming popularity. The U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) should not be paid any less for their success and popularity than the Men's National Team. The root of this issue stems from the lack of care and attention exhibited by FIFA, the governing body of association soccer, futsal (small games of soccer), and beach soccer. The U.S. Women's National Team is an entity that is not given the same opportunities as the U.S. Men's National team such as equal pay, airtime, playing surfaces, and advertisements, due to the corrupt culture of FIFA. There is a long overdue need to challenge FIFA and their views about women in sports, and give women the equal pay, airtime, playing surfaces, and advertisements they deserve.

The U.S. Women's National Team is all too accustomed to the lack of pay for their successes. A similar situation of unequal pay happened after the they won the 1999 World Cup. The women on the roster at the time, also raised awareness for this injustice using their popularity from their win. In addition to a public uproar, current president, Bill Clinton, along with the figurehead from the 1999 squad, Michelle Akers, proposed to Congress a $27 million bill  to "bolster federal laws" (Galvin). The bolstering would be for equal wages for equal work for both men and women, and would mean the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would investigate further into FIFA. The legislation, which failed to pass, began the long fight for the USWNT. FIFA, however, did nothing to help the women's team, under assessing the true extent of their popularity and success in United States (Galvin). The women of the 1999 World Cup team faced the same issues the current women from the 2015 World Cup squad do. The efforts from 1999 directly mirror the efforts of the women in 2015. The progress in women's soccer over the course of 16 years has been very slim, despite these initial efforts of the USWNT, the public, and President Clinton. 

FIFA, as explained before, is the governing body in the soccer world, and much like any government, has corruption brewing in the office. In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department initiated investigations looking into the corruption in FIFA. Ever since 2009, the department has charged "more than 40 people, including top FIFA executives and officials" on various charges including, but not limited to, "racketeering, fraud, and money laundering" (Mitchell). One of the largest issues with FIFA, is that its top officials come from cultures where women are not allowed to play, or it is considered a joke when they do. It was not until recent controversy and investigations that a woman won a seat on the federation's executive committee (Mitchell). FIFA ultimately controls the amount of money the USWNT takes home for its wins, and since they do not appreciate women, this causes a problem. 

As apart of John F. Kennedy's "New Frontier Program," he signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 into law. This act abolished the wage difference based on sex ("Equal Pay Act of 1963"). To regulate this act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established. Due to this law, the USWNT is entitled to equal pay.

The U.S. Men's National Team, like the USWNT, compiles a roster filled with players with immense popularity. Most of the men's star players have contracts and endorsements with the largest companies in the United States, much like the women's team. However, where the teams differ is their attention from FIFA. The men's team is spoiled in comparison to the women's team with the amount of airtime, pay, and support from the association. 

Why is this an issue? 

The numbers do not add up. A player on the USWNT can be paid a minimum of $6,842 to a maximum of $37,800, compared to a player on USMNT where the average salary is $300,000, with a median salary of $100,000 (Tuttle). However, the USWNT has historically been a more successful program than the USMNT. When comparing World Cup and Olympic Championship wins from men's to women's, the men's team has won zero tournaments to the women's seven tournaments ("History"). However, in the most recent World Cup's, the women's team was awarded $2 million for a World Cup win versus the men's team's $8 million for reaching the round of 16 (Tuttle). 

The U.S. Women's National team has been utilizing recent attention from their 2015 World Cup win to raise more awareness for the injustice. Shortly after their win, star forward Abby Wambach made the decision to retire after her long career. Now she devotes the rest of her career off the field to winning pay equality for women. In Abby's interview with reporter Jennifer Swann, she explains, that even though people are just now becoming aware of the massive pay gap, she's been "painfully aware" of it in her "nearly two decades" as a professional soccer player (Swann). Wambach points out the pay gap is not just about luxury. When the men retire after years of wear and tear to their bodies, they can live comfortably, opposed to the women. After retiring from the game, women have to think about what their next career move will be. Jennifer Swann also asks the question, "do you think that (the pay gap) effects the level of play," in which Abby responds without hesitance, "no doubt" (Swann). Wambach then continues to explain, when you know you have a comfortable lifestyle waiting for you, you are more willing to risk your body to go to the extreme in the game. Without that security, the women have to be hyper aware of their bodies and injuries, to ensure an income (Swann). 

In addition to interviews and voicing their concerns, the women got President Obama and Congress on their side to try to help in the fall of 2015. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy proposed a resolution that FIFA eliminates its "gender discrimination between male and female athletes" ("Senate Republicans ... "). Leahy was outraged when he saw the comparison between the payment structure in FIFA in contrast to other championships. However despite his urgings, the resolution was not passed due to one republican senator that voted no ("Senate Republicans ... "). Mirroring 1999, the women's team yet again failed to get support from Congress. In theory with the Equal Pay Act, there should not be an issue passing a resolution to support the USWNT. 

Despite the failed efforts of Congress, the U.S. Women's National team decided to take matters into their own hands. As of March 2016, five players from the USWNT filed a complaint on behalf of the entire team with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the U.S. Soccer Federation (under FIFA), that seeks wage equality with the men. The women point out the economic boost they have caused for the federation's sales, and demand they have equal treatment from FIFA (Staff).

How do the women on the team have an argument? 

The USWNT and the USMNT have "identical work requirements", which is the key term in the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The men and the women are expected to play at the same high level, on the international stage, however, they are treated with much different accommodations. The women are asked to play on artificial turf, something FIFA would never ask the men to do, in the most recent world cup. Artificial turf is a gateway to an unsafe playing environment with heat hazards, turf burn, harmful chemicals in the turf beads, and a different playing climate (Straus). The ball rolls at a much faster pace, and the gripping required to run is vastly different. The women are also expected to find their own housing when the budget does not allow them to stay in hotels, another inconvenience the USMNT never contends with (Mitchell). The men's national team was also paid large bonuses for each additional friendly match they played, when the women were not rewarded with any money (Staff). 

As mentioned before, the USWNT has proven themselves over the years by winning seven tournament championships (World Cups and Olympic gold medals) to the USMNT's zero. In just this past world cup, the Women's World Cup final was the most watched soccer match in history, with 25 million viewers. The women's national team has outdone their comparative men's team, winning three World Cups, which is considered the highest honor in international soccer. However, FIFA treats the men's internationals much better. As Korea Times explains, women's professional sports have a long way to go to reach the popularity of the men's sports, but when it comes to the USWNT in the world cup, they have surpassed the standard of deserving play, meaning, they deserve equal opportunities for their success ("Don't Say Soccer ... "). 

Yes, the numbers are not equal, and do not surpass the men's by astronomical standards, but the women are not given the same opportunities to compete with the men. As writer Kevin Baxter explains, FIFA could be doing more to support the USWNT. FIFA has not given the same amount of incredible investment and promotion into the Women's World Cup as the Men's World Cup. The women's team has enough popularity and power to bring in sponsorship, however FIFA has just failed to do so (Baxter). In a Korea Times article, it is noted that given the popularity of the women's team, if the women's games were given "comparable airtime", the women's team's revenue might increase significantly ("Don't Say Soccer ... "). Giving the same amount of airtime attention  to the women's team would be giving them the same opportunity of success of a profit as the men's team. 

FIFA claims that the women's programs are nowhere near the men's, so they should not be treated the same. Critics claim that the only reason the USWNT had more viewers in the women's World Cup final than the men's was because there was not a United States team in the men's World Cup Final (McAllister).  McAllister also states, the only reason the women's team was followed was because of American's patriotism against other countries. Another argument FIFA makes, is that women's soccer quality is lower than men's, and when they can compete with the men's "with the same skill" they will get paid the same as the men. McAllister claimed, the attention to the USWNT will "fade" following the World Cup and the fans who watched and rooted for our women will not care about the unequal pay, because "the moment will not last" (McAllister). 

Although critics have some supported opinions, they have many faults in their arguments. The very claim that more viewers watched the women's final only because the men did not make the final, proves the USWNT to be more successful. United States patriotism is strong, and it supports the USMNT too, but they have not had the same success in World Cup or Olympic play. Women's soccer is also deemed "lower quality" than men's, but in fact, it is a entirely different style than the men's. The style of soccer is different in a women's game due to the physique of a woman compared to a man, therefore, you cannot compare the styles in a context of "quality." Until the USWNT and the USMNT play in a friendly, an argument of unequal play on the basis of differing skill cannot be assumed. 

How can this be fixed? 

Solutions to the unequal treatment of men's and women's soccer starts with the governing body of soccer: FIFA. FIFA needs to take responsibility for its actions, or lack thereof, and began to treat the women's soccer programs with the same amount of respect as the men's. Over the years, the women's programs have gained popularity and a fanbase that has brought in $73 million in just the 2015 Women's World Cup. With the money FIFA allots, which is $1 billion worth of "development money," only $13 million is given towards women's soccer (Mitchell). If the women's program had adequate investments, they could have the potential to bring in revenue similar to that of the men's program. However, they are given turf fields and no bonuses, yet they still bring in $73 million. 

In addition to more development money, more airtime on sports broadcasting channels would tremendously help awareness of the women's game. Currently, the airtime for the women's soccer games are less than half of that of the men's (Tuttle). With such little time on air, there is barely room for women's soccer popularity to grow. In addition, women do not receive advertisement for their games, in turn hurting their sales. The women's team has taken it upon themselves to help advertise by starting a "She Believes" campaign, and posting game-day posts on social media to make their fans aware of their current traveling. However, the general public and viewers on ESPN, or FOX Sports do not know of the games, and the lack of advertisement is on FIFA. 

In an interview with Deborah Larkin, the head of Nation Women's Sports Foundation,  she explains more men soccer player allies are needed to fix the issue (Ouijano). She points out that FIFA would not handle it well if top stars like Clint Dempsey, Graham Zusi, Tim Howard, etc., were to boycott the game for their women's national team. If the men from the game call out FIFA, maybe FIFA would listen up.  

The reality of the United States Women's National Team consists of a constant fight for equal opportunities as the men. Despite success and popularity on the national stage, the women are still not given the same treatment as the men extending to playing surfaces, equal pay, airtime, or advertising. In efforts to fix this issue, Congress has tried to pass resolutions in support of equal play, but they have been unsuccessful. However, the women continue to fight. FIFA argues once the women bring up their views and revenue, they will receive equal pay. In contrast, the women argue to do so, they need more attention and equal opportunities granted to them by FIFA. So the question is, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Equal pay or equal play?


