The US Women’s Soccer team has just scored a BIG win as they win the FIFA world cup again! These women are amazing athletes winning the final game with a score of 2-0 and even 13-0 during the season.
Well these women aren’t just satisfied with their win, they’re looking at something bigger: a pay raise.
The women’s team makes $15,000 per member for making it to the world cup where as their male counterparts receive $76,000 per member. The disparity only increases as the teams progress in the world cup. If the men’s team were to win the cup, they would receive 40 million whereas the women’s team would receive only 4 million.
These women have been fighting since 2016 when they filed a pay discrimination complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They, however, have yet to hear back from the commission.
There are some complications which make it difficult to compare the two. The women’s team starts with a base salary of $100,000 + bonuses for winning games. Meanwhile, men start with no base salary but they do have larger bonuses per game. If both teams were to lose all their games, they would both make the same amount: $100,000. The difference only comes in once they start winning. If both were to win all the games, men would make $263,320 while women would only make $99,000.
It is also important to note that between the Men’s and the Women’s world cup, FIFA gave about $400 million in prize money to the men’s world cup and $30 million to the women’s world cup. Percentage wise, women are making more money from the prize pool than men are with women at 13% and men at 10%.
There are a lot of factors to consider when thinking about the pay gap. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.