U.S. women's soccer team files gender discrimination lawsuit By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 06.06.19 Word Count 1,069 Level 1000L

U.S. (10) controls the ball during an between the women's soccer teams on the United States and Mexico at Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey, May 26, 2019. The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted by France, starts on June 7. Photo by: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The U.S. women's soccer team's leaders gathered after practice on March 3. They'd speak one last time with their lawyers about the bombshell they planned to drop at week's end.

The tone was serious as stars such as , Carli Lloyd, and teammates reviewed the stakes one more time. They acknowledged the burden and risk would be great, just 93 days from their opening match in the World Cup.

That was largely the point.

The news broke on March 8, International Women's Day, that all 28 members of the squad had filed a class action, gender discrimination lawsuit against their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation. It was the timing — as much as the substance of their complaints — that shocked.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Rather than wait until after the World Cup, the defending champions chose the run-up to the tournament to speak out. They filed a 25-page legal suit, which says they're being treated unfairly because of gender. It says they do essentially the same job as the U.S. men's national team. However, the suit states they receive inferior wages, working conditions and publicity from U.S. Soccer.

This isn't what champion athletes normally do — launch a public fight with their boss at the most critical stage of their athletic preparation. Usually, athletes focus on shutting out distractions, rather than actively creating them.

Increasingly, though, it's what female athletes do. They fight one battle on the field and another battle off it to make their sport better and fairer.

"The Double-Earn"

Rapinoe, who is 33 years old, and helped the U.S. women to the 2012 Olympic gold medal and 2015 World Cup championship, calls it "the double-earn."

"I have to do everything I have to do on the field. Then, I have to do everything else to prove to you that that's enough," she says.

Nonetheless, the months and years spent wrangling with U.S. Soccer have given Rapinoe and her teammates a crash course in negotiating skills, legal tactics and marketing plans.

In many ways, the women's soccer team's "double-earn" mirrors the many roles and responsibilities women shoulder in life. They often must be both employees and managers as well as mothers and caregivers.

"It's exhausting," Rapinoe said.

Before Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in all government-funded education programs, and in the near half century since the law, it has rarely been enough for female athletes to play their best. Many have also had to demand the right to play and campaign for decent equipment and quality coaching. Some have had to push back against physical, sexual or emotional abuse while competing.

Williams Insisted On Equal Pay

Billie Jean King was the pioneer. She was threatened with being excluded from tennis events by the all-male tennis leadership for launching a women's league in the early 1970s.

There is a direct line from King to , who fought for equal pay. Williams convinced Wimbledon, the sport's most popular tournament, to pay its male and female champions the same in 2007. There is a direct line, in turn, to the women's soccer team's decades-long fight for better pay and working conditions.

The line extends to 200 female hockey players. On May 2, they refused to play in any North American league games until teams provide fair wages.

"It's not a popularity contest; it's about doing the right thing," King said by email. "You have to have a vision. And you have to understand that the role of your generation is to be the pioneer. ... In the end, you are just trying to make the world a better place for your sport."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Kendall Coyne Schofield is a member of the United States' 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning ice hockey team. She said her team and the Canadian hockey team also drew inspiration from King and received advice from the U.S. women's soccer team.

"They gave us hope that we can do this, too," said Coyne Schofield, who is 27 years old. She led the team's 2017 stand against USA Hockey. After threatening to skip that year's world championship unless salaries and support improved, the women won better conditions, the world title and Olympic gold.

Team Just Wants To Be Treated Fairly

"There has to come a time when women's sports is not an afterthought," Coyne Schofield said. "When are we done being pioneers?"

The U.S. women's national soccer team was founded in 1985. Since then, its was to make the sport better for the next generation.

The team begins its defense of the Women's World Cup on June 7 in France. Meanwhile, the women's decades-long campaign to be treated fairly by U.S. Soccer continues.

The lawsuit filed in March outlines their case against "ongoing, institutionalized gender discrimination." It starts with pay, but extends to training, travel, marketing and promotion, medical and support staff. Under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, it seeks corrective action as well as money paid for past damages.

A women's player earns a base of $3,600 per game while a men's player earns $5,000.

Using an example of 20 games where each U.S. team went undefeated, a women's base salary is already about $30,000 less than her male counterpart.

Male Players Earn Far More

Then, the maximum bonus for a female player is $1,350 per game. Meanwhile, male players can earn a maximum bonus of $12,625 per game depending on their opponent's level, and the average bonus is $8,166. Therefore, on average, the men would each earn $263,320 apiece. The women, by contrast, would earn $99,000. That's about 38 percent of the men's income.

The differences in pay start when the team is decided. Men earned $55,000 for making the U.S. World Cup team in 2014. Women earned $15,000 for making the U.S. World Cup team in 2015.

Neena Chaudhry is a lawyer with the Washington-based National Women's Law Center. She believes the players have a strong legal case. In addition to pay, their complaints include inferior playing fields, lack of private flights, insufficient promotion and publicity compared with their male counterparts.

A victory on the field would deliver the U.S. women's fourth World Cup championship.

A victory in court would deliver something more weighty. A new era. Or, the start of a new era, at least, in which the country's best female soccer players have only one job.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.