Chants of “equal pay” reverberated from the bleachers of the Stade de Lyon in France on Sunday following the U.S. women’s national team’s 2-0 victory over Netherlands to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Videos posted on social media showed different sections of fans repeatedly and loudly chanting “equal pay,” a reference to the disparity between the income of the U.S. women’s and men’s national teams.
The pay gap between men and women gained increased scrutiny as the U.S. women marched to their second consecutive World Cup title and record-breaking fourth championship overall.
{mosads}The women’s team is engaged in a gender discrimination lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation because the organization pays male players far more than female players.
For example, each player on the U.S. women’s national team could receive about $260,000 in maximum earnings for winning the Women’s World Cup, according to documents obtained by The Guardian, while each player on the U.S. men’s national team could have earned nearly $1 million if the club had won the World Cup.
Democratic lawmakers, including multiple 2020 presidential candidates, have spoken out about the issue in recent months. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in March signed on to a letter spearheaded by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) urging the United States Soccer Federation president to “ensure that the U.S. Women’s National Team is fairly compensated.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) chimed in on the controversy on Sunday, tweeting, “At this point we shouldn’t even be asking for #EqualPay for the #USWMNT – we should demand they be paid at least twice as much.”