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Gender Disparity In Soccer

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The U.S. women’s soccer team filed a complaint against U.S. Soccer for wage discrimination, claiming they make roughly 40% of what their male counterparts do. This is only the beginning of a trend in wage disparity in the Major Soccer League. The National Women’s Soccer League, or NWSL, has a pay ceiling per player of just $37,800. The men in Major League Soccer make an average of more than $300,000 with a median of about $100,000. The teams in the NWSL have a salary cap of $265,000, but for the men it is more than $3 million. The extremity of the wage gap is clearly depicted in CNN Money, the report states that the “amounts female American players receiving equate to less than 6 cents for every $1 earned by the German men”. The US women’s …show more content…

In the study, the successes of the male and female soccer teams within a country were compared to attempt to identify the impact gender equality had on women’s soccer performance. Specifically, labor force participation rates and life expectancies between males and females were compared. Those variables were the ones used to equate gender equality. If the economists’ theory was correct, the variables would correlate with the success of the male and female national soccer teams within a given country. The economists were able to announce, “Our results reveal that differences in male and female labor force participation rates and life expectancies are able to explain the international soccer performance of female teams, but not that of male teams, suggesting that gender equality is an important driver of female sport success”(Bredtmann, Carsten, & Otten). Essentially, their study provides evidence for the possibility that the success of female soccer teams is directly related to women’s rights on a global scale. This being true, per their experiment, could mean that if FIFA were to grant men’s and women’s soccer teams equal pay and prize money, the global soccer community would follow suit, and as a result woman all over the globe would begin to gain equal rights within their …show more content…

In every country, soccer stars are celebrated, they are young children’s’ heroes, and they inspire nations. Soccer is played in small villages in Africa, suburbs in America, and the arctic tundra of Russia, it can be played anytime, anywhere. It is the only sport that serves as a universal language, citizens in every country know the basics of soccer. Anyone, of any age, can play. It serves as a common connection for humanity and the players set examples for most of the world. If women are not being paid equally on the only platform that has the ability to reach the entire planet, it is no wonder that so many countries do not believe in women’s rights. However, if they were paid the same as men, they would be setting an example for the entire world. Many countries would begin to better understand that women are equal. After all, so many of life’s lessons are taught to children through games, especially games like soccer. This sport is a very rare, if not the only, opportunity to teach the entire world that women are just as equal as men, and not just on the soccer field. Women’s soccer could serve as the messenger to the world, and “kickoff” a new attitude for the equal treatment of women and really get the ball rolling on equal pay for women. This sport has the unique opportunity to use its influence to change attitudes that will seep

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