EQUAL PAY BY: Trent Crider, Mikeelie Gale, Dylan Kreisel, Soraia De Moura, Natalie Pace, Thomas Pensiero
Summary
- The Women’s National Team Players’ Union is making a defense to payment discrimination
- The Women’s U.S. soccer team has outperformed the Men’s U.S. soccer team in every way
- The Women’s team reported a $16 million profit while the men’s team reported a loss this past year
- Best U.S. soccer rating in the Women’s World Cup Championship
- The U.S. Women’s soccer team is the favorite in the 2016 Olympics and this is cause to strike while the iron is hot
History
- The United States Women’s National Soccer Team began to be successful in 1991 by winning the first Women’s World Cup in FIFA history.
- Three World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, and 2015. and Four Olympic Gold Medals in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012
- The Women’s United Soccer League (WUSA) debuted in 2001, but was disbanded in 2004 due to severe financial difficulties
- A professional women’s soccer league was finally reestablished in the 2009 debut of Women’s Professional Soccer
PAY STRUCTURES:
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
- The women’s current pay structure was negotiated with US Soccer in 2005 and the deal was extended in 2012 under a “memorandum of understanding,” which the women’s lawyer claims to be “terminable at will.”
- A clause in this agreement states that, if the women’s national team is being paid a lower percent of the revenue they bring in than what the men’s team is paid, US Soccer will “make a lump sum payment to the women’s national team player pool”
Legal Rights
- - Under the EEOC, U.S. Soccer is breaking the federal law by not offering equal compensation for the Women’s soccer team.
- - Title VII of the Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate based on sex in pay and benefits
- The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work
- All forms of pay are covered by this law, including salary, overtime pay, bonuses...
The Other side:
- They agreed to the amount they were paid: Women bargained for a set salary, while the men bargained for a pay by play salary
- Men’s teams generate more attendance
- Men’s sports are more established and have been around for a longer period of time
- Internationally, men’s soccer is a lot bigger than women’s
Biblical Integration
Proverbs 12:22 - Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Psalm 9:8 - He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness.
Conclusion and questions:
- Is it ethical for the women to break the agreement before it expires?
- Should they get pay as equals to the men, or should they just get pay raises?
References
Dure, B. (2016, April 11). The US women’s soccer pay dispute: a tangled web with no easy answers. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/11/uswnt-womens-soccer-pay-gamble-gender-equality
Halloran, J. D. (2013, April 23). The rise and rise of the United States women’s national team. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1614739-the-rise-and-rise-of-the-united-states-womens-national-team.
History of the United States women’s national soccer team. (2015, December 5). Semper Soccer. Retrieved from http://semper.soccersavings.com/history-united-states-womens-national-soccer-team/
Litterer, D. (2011). Women’s soccer history in the USA: an overview. Retrieved from http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/womensoverview.html
Miller, G., Scheyer, J., & Sherrard, E. (2009). Women’s United Soccer Association. Retrieved from http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/womens-soccer-in-the-u-s/womens-soccer-after-1999/womens-united-soccer-assocation/
Peterson, A. M. (2016, April 17). History repeats: US women’s soccer team still in wage fight. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/history-repeats-us-womens-soccer-team-still-in-wage-fight/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all
Yourish, K., Ward, J., & Almukhtar, S. (2016). How much less are female soccer players paid? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/31/sports/soccer/us-women-soccer-wage.html