Women Accuse U.S. Soccer Federation of Wage Discrimination by Anne M

Women accuse U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination By Anne M. Peterson, Associated Press on 04.05.16 Word Count 710

The U.S. Women's National Team celebrates with the trophy after they beat Japan 5-2 in the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer championship in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 5, 2015. Photo: AP/Elaine Thompson

Five female players from the World Cup-winning U.S. national team have accused the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) of wage discrimination in an action ﬁled with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo maintain in the EEOC filing they were paid nearly four times less than their male counterparts on the U.S. men's national team (USMNT). The filing was announced Thursday in a statement from the law firm representing the players.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Solo said in a statement. "We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the USMNT get paid more just to show up than we get paid to win major championships."

The union representing the players is currently involved in a legal dispute with U.S. Soccer over the terms of their collective bargaining agreement. The federation ﬁled a lawsuit this year seeking to clarify that its contract with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Players Association runs through the Rio Olympics until Dec. 31. The union maintains the memorandum of understanding agreed to in March 2013 can be terminated at any time. Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, one of the attorneys representing the players, claimed that the tenor of the negotiations over the CBA created the need for the women to act in hopes of ending what they say is the "discriminatory and unfair treatment" they have endured for years.

"The reality is that this team is more valuable to the USSF than the men's team has been. That's what the facts show," Kessler said on a conference call with reporters. "And they would be justiﬁed in asking for more than the men are receiving. But the ﬁrst step that they are seeking is equal treatment. That should be an easy step for the USSF to take."

U.S. Soccer issued a statement saying it had not seen this complaint and couldn't comment on speciﬁcs, but added it is "disappointed" with the action.

"We have been a world leader in women's soccer and are proud of the commitment we have made to building the women's game in the United States over the past 30 years," the statement said.

The top players on the women's team are paid about $72,000 a year by U.S. Soccer, along with bonuses, to play in a minimum of 20 exhibitions per year — a salary far less than the men, the complaint says. And unlike the men, they are awarded bonuses only if they win those matches, the complaint says.

Citing another example of the disparity, the complaint says that the women are paid $30,000 each for making the World Cup team, while the men are paid $68,750.

"There are no legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for this gross disparity of wages, nor can it be explained away by any bona ﬁde seniority, merit or incentive system or any other factor other than sex," said the complaint, signed by four of the players on Tuesday.

The EEOC investigates claims of discrimination on merit. There is no timetable for resolution of the matter.

Many players on the national team have become increasingly vocal about gender equity in the sport, something that came to light in advance of last year's World Cup in Canada. A group of players led by Abby Wambach ﬁled a complaint in Canada about the artiﬁcial turf playing surface, noting the men's World Cup is played on natural grass.

After the women won the World Cup with a 5-2 victory over Japan in the ﬁnal, the turf issue arose again during a victory tour when a game in Hawaii was canceled because the artiﬁcial turf was deemed unsafe.

"This is a ﬁght that we are going to have to continue to ﬁght from here on forward," Solo said. I don't see it getting any easier, but it is something we are committed to. And it's not just in the sports world, it's everywhere you look."

Morgan said it wasn't only one factor that brought the players to ﬁle the complaint.

"It's the right step for us in moving forward with this team," she said.

The team, which has qualiﬁed for this summer's Olympics in Brazil, is currently in Florida training for a pair of exhibition games against Colombia. Quiz

1 Read the following paragraph from the article.

Which idea is BEST supported by this paragraph?

(A) The men's team is more valuable, but the women still deserve to have at least equal pay.

(B) The women's team is actually asking for less of a pay raise than they truly deserve.

(D) The women's team is asking to be paid more than the men's team since they are more valuable.

2 Read the following paragraph from the article.

Which of the following can be inferred from this paragraph?

(A) In addition to lower pay, the women's team now has to play on turf as opposed to real grass.

(B) Abby Wambach is leading the ﬁght for equal pay from the U.S. Soccer Federation.

(D) The disparity in pay between male and female players is not the ﬁrst incident of sexism in the sport. 3 Which answer choice provides an accurate and objective summary of the article?

(A) Players on the U.S. women's soccer team ﬁled a complaint to receive equal pay. Although the women are the more successful team, the men still receive higher pay.

(B) The U.S. women's soccer team is the best team in the world. It is unfair that they are not being paid the same amount as members of the men's team.

(C) Players on the U.S. women's soccer team are paid far less money than the men's team. The U.S. Soccer Federation is wrong for allowing this to happen.

(D) There is a large gap in pay between the men's and women's soccer teams, even though the women's team is more valuable. The women ﬁled a complaint to receive more pay than their male counterparts.

4 Read this sentence from paragraph 4 of the article.

The union representing the players is currently involved in a legal dispute with U.S. Soccer over the terms of their collective bargaining agreement.

Does this particular sentence convey a MAIN idea of the article? Why or why not?

(A) Yes, because it provides background information on equal pay in the soccer world.

(B) Yes, because it explains the role of the union in negotiating higher pay.

(D) No, it does not describe why the women had to play on turf at the World Cup in Canada.