Women’s National Soccer Team Players Say They’re Treated Like “Second-Class Citizens”

In a 60 Minutes interview airing on Sunday, November 20, U.S. Women's National Soccer Team captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Christen Press, and midfielder Morgan Brian discuss the sexism they've faced as athletes. "We feel like we’re treated like second-class citizens, because they don’t care as much about us as they do the men," Lloyd said in a segment on CBS This Morning. This is despite the fact that FIFA ranks the U.S. team the number one women's soccer team in the world (the men's team is number 24), and the women's team has received four Olympic gold medals and a silver. "We have been in some — some major — some major battles on the field, but this is — this could be the fight that we are a part of," says Sauerbrunn. Lloyd and Sauerbrunn are among the five players who filed a wage discrimination complaint against U.S. Soccer in March. After winning the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the team made $2 million, while the men's team made $8 million after losing in 2014. Just before the 2016 Rio Olympics, which the team considered boycotting, defender Julie Johnston told Refinery29 that she supports her teammates' fight for equality.

"I think it’s about knowing your worth and what you can give back," she said. "This team has, over and over again, pushed limits [in ways] that many people didn't think was possible, and I think that it’s a responsibility to be able to grow and continue that. The next generation is very important to us."