Summary: Should Women Soccer Players Get Paid

In today's society women are able to become anything they wish. Generations ago women did not have the privilege to become what they truly desired compared to the women of today. Although women can become anything they desire, they cannot succeed financially. Women are still underpaid in many areas, especially in Pro Sports. The disparity in pay for women compared men's pro sports is absurd. Female athletes have also seen greater success in sports as well and have been belittled and condemned of the rewards they rightfully deserve for the achievements in their sports. It is simple, gender should not define pay in pro sports, especially if they both have equal to or greater success in their respected sports.

Soccer is a sport that many know and love. It has been globalized through the ages, and has brought many people enjoyment by watching, and playing the sport. While soccer has brought many people from around the world together, it has also driven a wedge between males and females in society. This sport is controversial for many reasons. It brings about controversy because of the fact that some people can clearly identify the separation of equitable treatment between the genders, while others are oblivious to this idea. Many people from around the world have joined in on this topic. This not only shows the connection of globalization to the gender inequalities, but it shows the link between

They are not given the same amount of support to pursue an athletic career as men. Moreover, according to Kelsey Clark she has stated in her blog that “The very highest paid female soccer athletes, including the United States’ Alex Morgan, make only around a half million playing soccer. The highest paid men, in contrast, can earn more than $50 million for their salary and other winnings”. This demonstrates that women athletes are being paid low which is not fair at all and women are back off they are not treated equally as they deserve more than what they get and have more talent but it 's hidden because of the inequality.

“Equal play. Equal pay.” –U.S. Women’s National Team (Reiher). The gender pay gap is surprisingly still a large problem today. Not only in soccer, but in every sport women exert the most effort, yet they do not receive the credit. The U.S. Woman’s National Team should receive an equal amount of pay as the men’s team because they have won more titles, they are better soccer players, and they bring in more income.

Lopiano complains that there’s too much of a salaries gap between man and women playing the same sports. “The right to play has been established. However, the issue that has been confronted is the barrier to being treated equally when it comes to money” (Lopiano 1). Most people will say women’s tennis matches are more exciting than men’s matches; men’s victory purses are still considerably higher than women’s victory purses. Top women tennis players earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. The average total purse was $63,031,000.00 for top men players and $41,000,000.00 for top women players (Daniel Frankl 2). In soccer, the Women’s World Cup soccer team was promised $12,500 if they won compared to the $300,000 male players were to receive. The payout for women players was increased to $50,000 because fans protested the unfair payout gap between the male and female players (Lopiano 1); it’s still 1/6 the payout

Many women professional basketball players work hard, are dedicated, and have a genuine love for the game; however, many of them are very underpaid when compared to the men professional basketball players. The difference between what men and women are paid for the same job is referred to as the gender wage gap. In the United States that gap is 78 cents, so a woman is paid 78 cents for every dollar paid to a man doing the same work. Lynx player Maya Moore said, "We’re not super rich like the guys … but money’s not everything when you’re talking about dynasties and legacies, and inspiring young women and men, and opening people’s minds." Obviously, they do not play for the money, they play because they love the game of basketball. The women basketball players work really hard and inspire more people everyday. They should be awarded and paid the equal amount just as any male basketball player.

When it comes to sports men and women are rarely given equal opportunities to excel. This is the case in soccer specifically, as many individuals over look women’s soccer. Women are having to play on turf fields which is causing more injuries compared to men playing on natural grass. Men also make more money per match and they receive money if they lose, whereas the women do not receive any money if they lose a match. While women are becoming more successful, the men’s team has been around longer and bring in more media coverage and endorsements for the league. Despite the discrepancies found in media coverage of both teams, the US soccer federation and Federation International Football Association should provide equal opportunities for both men’s and women’s soccer teams.

However, it does not make sense that one should be more popular than the other, even though it is the same sport. The style is different, but talking to many others they all say that women's basketball is more calm and is played more fluently, which is easier to follow. Unlike men's basketball, which is not run with plays. For some other teams, the women draw bigger crowds than the men, for example Tennessee's Lady Volunteers regularly sell out and often draw bigger crowds than the men's team. But other teams are equal, such as Connecticut's Lady Huskies. They draw sell-out crowds, just like the men's team. While this is college basketball, it is still the difference between men’s and women’s basketball. Popularity counts can still be raised for the WNBA if they would sponsor them as much as they sponsor the NBA. Unlike the NBA the WNBA is not sponsored much, which can cause them to not have big crowns like the NBA. So since they are not sponsored as much, of course they will not draw big

The pay in both the professional women's soccer team and the professional men's soccer team is very unequal. The players on the women's team get paid nearly a fourth less which is very surprising considering how good they are. Both teams play the same game do the same sport and represent the same team so why aren't they payed the same? I believe the women's team should be paid the same as the men's or even more because of their amazing results.

The US women’s soccer team are only paid about a fourth of what the men are paid, even though they actually preform at a level well above that of the men’s, and create more income for the corporation; In fact, the women’s soccer team made approximately $20 million more money in revenue than the men’s soccer team ("U.S. Women's Team Files Wage-discrimination Action vs. U.S. Soccer"). Another instance of the men’s team earning more money than the women’s team unfairly is that the women were only paid $2 million dollars total when they won the world cup in 2015, while the men’s team (who got to round 16 before they lost) were paid a total of $9 million dollars ("U.S. Women's Team Files Wage-discrimination Action vs. U.S. Soccer"). That means that the women’s team was paid approximately 22% of what the men’s team was being paid, creating a wage gap that is even larger than what the one from the 1960’s. If you go by the logic of paying someone based on the worker’s effort and skill, as it is stated in the Equal Pay Act, than the women’s team should be paid significantly more than the men’s team, not the other way

When a men’s teams win a game, they receive so much money per game for their program, but the women’s team do not make any money when they win games in tournaments. Andrew Zimbalist admits, “The total value of a victory in the men’s tournament is approximately $1.56 million. By contrast, a win in the women’s tournament brings a reward of exactly zero dollars” (1). If the male athletes are going to give money to the winner of the men’s tournament, there should as well be money given to the winner in the women’s tournament as well. It does not make sense that one would receive so much money for their program when the other can also win and bring no money back for their program. To me, this shows that people think the women’s tournament is not as important as the men’s tournament. People tend to think that the men’s team is better because the men are stronger and faster, but women’s games can be just as entertaining as the men’s

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

There are many reasons for this being such a common mentality towards women's sports. Some argue that men’s sports are more entertaining to watch as men are more competitive and more physical for some sports.

With 26.7 million people tuning in to watch the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final, it became the most watched soccer match in United States history (Hinong). In fact, more Americans watched this game than the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup (Hinong). In the WNBA, television ratings and attendance numbers were up (Berkman), and first game of the NWHL’s inaugural season brought a crowd that filled the venue to capacity, followed by a later game in a larger building where 1,231 fans came to see Boston beat the Buffalo Beauts in a 4-1 victory, a turnout that exceeded the attendance to all but two NCAA Division I game last season (Borzi). These statistics show just how popular Women’s sports are becoming especially in the United States, but why isn’t

But even today women athletes are not on equal footing with men. Women are not permitted to be masculine, they can be athletes but they need to keep their femininity intact. Even a great athlete like Babe Didrickson was forced to change her image to suit our culture's sense of what a woman should be. And while a women may be given endorsements she is expected to look a certain way we she does them. She may sweat on the field or the court but not on camera.