The matter of the U.S. women's soccer team and the U.S. Football Association reaching an equal pay claim agreement for equal work has been the focus of recent sports media attention. But in fact, this matter is not as simple as some media reports.
On November 27, 2021, the 2021 women's football friendly, the United States played against Australia
In 2019, the U.S. women's soccer team sued the U.S. Soccer Association, alleging gender discrimination, including inconsistent treatment of men's and women's soccer teams. The U.S. women's soccer team claimed more than $66 million in damages at the time. According to a survey by the US media, the US men's soccer team is generally higher than the US women's soccer team in terms of bonuses.
Now the lawsuit has finally come to an end. On Tuesday, local time in the United States, the U.S. women's soccer team and the U.S. Soccer Association reached a co-worker claim settlement. According to the agreement, the U.S. Soccer Association will pay the same proportion of male and female players in tournaments including the World Cup and all friendly matches in the future. However, the specific implementation requires a collective agreement with the trade unions representing the men's and women's respective football teams.
In addition, the U.S. Soccer Association will pay $22 million to the U.S. women's soccer team and set up a $2 million fund to help women soccer players develop their future careers and charitable activities related to women's soccer. The $22 million was awarded to the U.S. female soccer players who participated in the lawsuit. As for how to distribute the $22 million, these women footballers need to make a suggestion, and then the district court will review it.
In the Women's World Cup in France, American female footballer Rapino shot on goal
Things seem to be solved, but in fact, they are just a start. The U.S. women's soccer team currently has a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that expires at the end of March. The agreement was signed in 2017. At that time, the U.S. women's soccer team asked for the same labor agreement as the men's soccer team, but the U.S. Soccer Association refused. Because, the U.S. Soccer Federation said, if the same bonuses were paid to women's footballers and men's soccer players, the U.S. Soccer Association would go bankrupt.
Now, the U.S. Soccer Federation has left the issue to the unions of the U.S. men's and women's soccer teams. The two unions need to find a way to distribute the prize money given by FIFA. But it won't be that easy. Because fifa gives men's and women's football to the huge gap in bonuses. In the last World Cup cycle, FIFA gave $38 million to the men's World Cup winners and $4 million to the women's World Cup winners.
In addition, the main player of the U.S. women's soccer team, Rapino, and the president of the U.S. Football Association, Cindy Cone, both said that the next move will be directed at FIFA. FIFA has a huge gap in the prize money of the men's and women's World Cups, and it does not inject as much money to promote the development of women's football as men's football. However, this is easier said than done. But Rapino said the time for polite talks had passed and they would put further pressure on FIFA.
At this year's Women's Asian Cup, the Chinese women's football team defeated South Korea to win the championship
Finally, by the way, the above-mentioned equal pay for equal work refers to the national team level, not the club level. At club level, the income gap between men and women's football is huge.
In addition, the training allowance for Chinese women's and men's football teams is both 1,000 yuan per day. The previous gap was mainly in terms of tournament prize money. This time, the Chinese women's football team won the Asian Cup championship, in addition to the rewards of the sponsors, the Chinese Football Association's reward for the achievements of women's football is also unprecedented. Although the association is inconvenient to disclose the specific amount, the relevant person confirmed that since the Chinese women's football team finally won the Asian Cup, the highest level of Asian women's football, the team will receive a fairly high amount of prize money according to the established reward method.