After Breaking World Cup Record, U.S Women's Soccer Deserves Equal Pay Now, More Than Ever

If you needed any more proof that females are strong as hell, let U.S. women’s soccer team hit, er, kick the point home. On Tuesday, the U.S. team broke a World Cup record when it defeated Thailand’s team 13-0 in what The Washington Post called “the most lopsided victory in World Cup history.” Star player Alex Morgan scored five goals total during the game, and two other players, Rose Lavelle and Samantha Mewis, both scored two points each. Basically,these women are crushing it. So, why aren’t they being payed as much as male soccer players of their stature?

Folks on Twitter were quick to note that these women are amazing, and should be making at least as much as players on the men’s team. “If [pay is] performance based these ladies better be making way more than the boys,” wrote Kasie Hunt, an NBC News White House correspondent [sic].

“The USWNT have scored more goals today against Thailand than the U.S. men scored in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups,” journalist Richard Deitsch observed.

On March 8, the women’s team filed a federal suit against the United States Soccer Federation in which they noted “purposeful gender discrimination.” The team’s star defender Becky Sauerbrunn said in a statement: “It is wrong for us to be paid and valued less for our work because of our gender.” According to the lawsuit, a comparison of the Women’s National Team and Men’s National Team shows that if each team played and won 20 exhibition games in a year, “female WNT players would earn a maximum of $99,000 or $4,950 per game, while similarly situated male MNT players would earn an average of $263,320 or $13,166 per game.” Yikes.

It’s important to note that the United States women’s team has been killing the game for decades, and is objectively the best in the world. They’ve scored three FIFA Women’s World Cup titles, and four Olympic gold medals. Now, there’s this insane win over Thailand’s team. The stats speak for themselves — unlike the paychecks.