As the global community celebrated International Women’s Day on Friday, all 28 members of the World Cup-winning U.S. women’s national soccer team filed a federal class-action lawsuit accusing the United States Soccer Federation of “institutionalized gender discrimination.”
“Each of us is extremely proud to wear the United States jersey, and we also take seriously the responsibility that comes with that. We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility.”
—Alex Morgan, U.S. women’s national team
The civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, is just the latest development in the female athletes’ long fight for pay, medical care, training, coaching, travel arrangements, and overall working conditions that are on par with the U.S. men’s national team.
The suit alleges that by paying the men more, and granting them better working conditions, the federation is violating the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The class of female players—which could grown to include dozens of more former team members—is seeking “punitive damages and all other appropriate relief.”
Lawsuit plaintiffs Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn, along with former goalkeeper Hope Solo, filed a complaint against U.S. Soccer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2016. The federal agency gave the players a right-to-sue letter last month.
“Each of us is extremely proud to wear the United States jersey, and we also take seriously the responsibility that comes with that,” Morgan said in a statement. “We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility. As players, we deserved to be paid equally for our work, regardless of our gender.”
In terms of victories on the field, the women’s team members have notably outperformed their male counterparts—winning three of the seven all-time Women’s World Cups as well as gold medals in four of the six Olympic Games that have featured women’s soccer.
Regarding their latest World Cup win in 2015, the lawsuit points out that the “title game garnered approximately 23 million viewers, making it the most watched soccer game in American TV history. The post-Cup Victory Tour drew tens of thousands of fans to soccer stadiums across the United States.”
The filing comes just months before the next FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to start on June 7 in Paris.
It also comes amid calls—on International Women’s Day—for policymakers worldwide to recognize decades of failures to close gender gaps across industries, and to pursue “a transformative and measurable agenda for gender equality.”
Outlining some of the build up to the federal lawsuit, New York Times sports journalist Andrew Das wrote Friday:
Although not directly a part of the suit, the United States National Soccer Team Players Association said in a statement on Friday that it “fully supports the efforts” of the female players and remains “committed to the concept of a revenue-sharing model to… find a way towards fair compensation.”