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kansascityhappenings · 6 years ago

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Women’s national soccer team players file discrimination lawsuit for equitable pay

Three months before beginning their defense of their Women’s World Cup title, American players escalated their legal dispute with the U.S. Soccer Federation over equal treatment and pay.

Players filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the federation Friday, alleging ongoing “institutionalized gender discrimination” that includes unequal pay with their counterparts on the men’s national team.

The women’s team has often championed equal rights issues and sought more equitable pay during collective bargaining two years ago.

“I think a lot of people look to us and our team and the collective voice that we have and what we’ve stood for, for inspiration and for power, and as an ally in this broader fight for equality and human rights, really,” said winger Megan Rapinoe, a co-captain and veteran of 149 international appearances.

Alex Morgan #13 and Carli Lloyd #10 of the United States during the CONCACAF Women’s Championship final match at Toyota Stadium on October 17, 2018 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The 28 members of the current women’s player pool filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed on International Women’s Day.

Players seek damages that include back pay.

“We believe it is our duty to be the role models that we’ve set out to be and fight to what we know we legally deserve,” forward Christen Press told The Associated Press. “And hopefully in that way it inspires women everywhere.”

The U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association is not party to the lawsuit but said in a statement it “supports the plaintiffs’ goal of eliminating gender-based discrimination by USSF.”

The USSF did not have an immediate comment.

The men’s and women’s U.S. national teams have separate collective bargaining agreements, and their pay is structured differently. That means there is no dollar-to-dollar salary comparison.

The lawsuit claims that from March 2013 through Dec. 31, 2016, when the previous collective bargaining agreement expired, players on the women’s team could make a maximum salary of $72,000, plus bonuses for winning non-tournament games as well as World Cup appearances and victories, and for Olympic placement.

“A comparison of the WNT and MNT pay shows that if each team played 20 friendlies in a year and each team won all 20 friendlies, 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 against the various levels of competition they would face,” the lawsuit says.

Lin Yuping #6 of China fights Megan Rapinoe #15 of the United States for possession during the first half at FirstEnergy Stadium on June 12, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

It concludes that a top-tier women’s player would make only 38 percent of a similarly situated men’s player.

A pay disparity was very apparent at the World Cup: In 2014, the federation gave the men’s roster a performance bonus of nearly $5.4 million after the U.S. went out in the round of 16 in Brazil. The women’s team received a bonus of $1.72 million after winning the 2015 World Cup in Canada.

The last time the U.S. men made the World Cup field (for Brazil) male players selected to the roster received a $55,000 bonus, while the women received $15,000 each for making the 2015 World Cup, according to court documents. Additionally, the men shared a $2 million bonus for qualifying, while the women shared $300,000.

The USSF has long maintained that any disparity is the result of separate collective bargaining agreements.

Compensation for the women includes a guaranteed salary and also salaries paid by the USSF for their time with clubs in the National Women’s Soccer League. The men get paid based on roster selection for appearances for friendlies and tournaments.

While star players on the women’s team, like forward Alex Morgan, can make as much as their male counterparts because of endorsement deals, the disparity becomes greater for players with lesser profiles.

Terms of the collective bargaining agreements have not been made public.

A group of players filed a complaint in 2016 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged wage discrimination by the federation. The new lawsuit effectively ends that EEOC complaint, brought by Morgan, Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Carli Lloyd and former goalkeeper Hope Solo. The players received a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC last month.

Kathryn H. Ruemmler, a lawyer representing the federation, wrote in a May 2016 letter to the EEOC that over the previous four years, women’s national team players averaged almost $280,000, a figure $90,000 more than men’s national team players. She pointed out that women receive benefits the men don’t, including severance pay, medical insurance, maternity leave, child care and a relocation allowance.

Ruemmler also said men’s games generated about $144 million from 2008-15, while women’s matches generated $53 million, and television ratings for men’s games from 2013-15 averaged twice the figure for women’s matches.

But those figures were for years prior to the women’s 2015 World Cup victory and also did not include the men’s failure to reach the 2018 World Cup. The women’s team brought in $6.6 million in profit in 2015, compared to less than $2 million for the men’s team.

Following the EEOC action, the women took the fight for equality into contract negotiations and struck a collective bargaining agreement covering 2017-21.

Players received raises in base pay and bonuses as well as better provisions for travel and accommodations, including increased per diems. It also gave the players some control of certain licensing and marketing rights.

The lawsuit filed Friday seeks “an adjustment of the wage rates and benefits” for the women.

“At the heart of this whole issue we believe that it’s the right thing. We believe that there has been discrimination against us,” Rapinoe said. “And while we have fought very hard and for a long time, whether that be through our CBA or through our players association, putting ourselves in the best possible position that we can to get the best deal that we can, we still feel that we don’t have what we’re trying to achieve, which is equality in the workplace.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/03/08/womens-national-soccer-team-players-file-discrimination-lawsuit-for-equitable-pay/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/womens-national-soccer-team-players-file-discrimination-lawsuit-for-equitable-pay/

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toriend · 8 years ago

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The Shameful “Coverage” of Women in Sports

The struggle for equality all across the board, has been present for over a century now. It’s primarily seen within race, class, and especially gender. Since the beginning of time, males have been the hierarchy and have been rooted as the dominant gender. Whether it be the Bible or the language used to describe the human race as man, and not woman. The fight for women’s rights predates back to 169 years ago in 1848 and the fight for these rights continue to goes on in present day society, specifically within the workforce. An industry that is striving for progress and continues to fight for a change, is the women within the sports industry. Whether it be a women’s sports broadcaster, analyst, or athlete the inequality is relatively present. Female athletes have been shamed and shunned since the they were allowed to compete compared to their male counterparts. Now, Title IX, which was supposed to “solve the problem,” barely made any difference for female competitors at every level, especially professional. This is progress that women should be “satisfied” with and stop being so “greedy” and wanting more when in reality, these athletes have barely scraped the surface with improvement. For years, they have fought for equality and continue to receive very little in return. Now, this fight is louder than ever before as women such as participants from the US Women’s National Team and the National Women’s Soccer Leagues are eager to make moves within their realm of sport. To understand why these women are frustrated and deserve better pay and treatment will be examined through sports televised coverage such as ESPN and how the male patriarchy is still very relevant especially within this industry. The observation of ESPN coverage of female athletes and the strides the NWSL is making with A&E Network, will be seen through the eyes of a theoretical framework that is feminism with input from Michael Messner and Bell Hooks.

ESPN’s Coverage and The Manhood Formula

ESPN is the number one 24 hour sports news station in the world, and yet they refuse to thoroughly cover women’s sports for the reason they are obliviously exploiting, marginalizing, and trivializing them through the male patriarchy. Michael Messner, states this idea called the manhood formula in chapter four of his book titled, Taking the Field and describes it as, “A real man is strong, tough, aggressive, and above all, a winner in what is still a man’s world. To be a winner he has to do what needs to be done. He must be willing to compromise his own long-term health by showing guts in the face of danger, by fighting other men when necessary, and by giving up his body for the team when he’s injured” (Messner, 2002, pg. 106). Deriving from this quote, it makes sense as to why these men choose not to air women sports; due to the fact they are not a “man” and “aren’t as entertaining to watch as men are.” However, 2015 Women’s World Cup drew quite the crowd both in stadiums and viewers at home as “six matches on Fox and Fox Sports 1 that featured the U.S. team averaged 5.3 million viewers, a rise of 121 percent over the 2011 Women’s World Cup” (ESPNW). The US WNT has been making an impact on the movement and realized that speaking up only has so much power, so they are beginning to physically prove themselves by breaking records such as their final game against Japan which “drew the highest metered market rating ever for a soccer game in the U.S. airing on a single network, with a total audience of 20.3 million viewers” (ESPNW). Despite the massive improvement these women are making within their sport, it still, apparently, isn’t enough for the men in power.

The study that was done as described in the ESPNW article states that, “network affiliates in Los Angeles and ESPN’s SportCenter, a mere 2-3 percent of media coverage was afforded to women’s sports in 2014” (ESPNW). Personally, the surprising part is this article was published on ESPNW’s website, which is affiliated with ESPN. It’s like the strong feminist sister who is fighting to be heard by her male patriarchal brother who refuses to listen to her. Soccer is still the main focus, but to simply give another example of a women’s sport “the women’s College World Series averaged almost 440,000 more viewers than the men’s College World Series; both events aired on ESPN on the same days of the week, three weeks apart. (ESPNW). Although the men’s World Series has been around for about 35 years longer than women’s, it still doesn’t suffice that women receive less media attention compared to men. Furthermore, “when viewers are given an opportunity to actually see women’s sports, the respond with a rather amazing – yet too often ignored – interest, which could be capitalized upon even further through sponsorships, advertising revenue and improved media coverage” (ESPNW). This is the problem; the fact that this gender gap could be narrowed down, and even closed, if women were respected for what they do both on and off the competitive playing field.

Lifetime and NWSL

Another problem that arises due to lack of women’s media coverage is the failed professional leagues here in the US, specifically the soccer leagues that consisted of WUSA and Women’s Professional Soccer, also known as WPS. The recent league that still continues to live on is the National Women’s Soccer League or the NWSL for short. Yet, this league receives “financial support from U.S. Soccer, and the Canadian and Mexican soccer federations” (ESPNW). This begs the question, as asked by Washington Post reporter Liz Clarke, “will ‘a women’s pro sports league ever stand on its own?’” (ESPNW). The men’s league, the MLS, currently has been around for 20 years and holds 20 official sponsors whereas the NWSL “has just three sponsors and no national TV contract” and in 2015 and 2016, their games were only scheduled to be broadcast on YouTube. However, that is all about to change.

On February 2, 2017, the NWSL began a historic 3 year contract with A + E Networks who “will become an official sponsor and broadcast partner of the league in a three-year deal, beginning in April” (NWSL). Lifetime is a network that is most known for its scripted series, non-fiction series and movies. Since they’ve launched their Braod Focus initative in 2015, Lifetime has become “a curator of feminist content and conversations, as well as a place where women connect, learn and are entertained” (NWSL). Lifetime has never aired sports of any kind and to cover women’s soccer, is the beginning of something incredible for both A + E Networks as well as the NWSL. This is a massive move for the league and is said to act as the “media and commercial arm of the league, overseeing global broadcast and sponsorship rights” (NWSL). Be on the lookout for the NWSL this upcoming 2017 season and be sure to tune in every Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

Women in sports, especially women’s soccer, have been making drastic improvement, yet it still seems to not be enough for the male dominance within the sports industry. It seems as if, “for generations, definitions (and practices) of masculinity were equated with what it meant to be an athlete. And as every tomboy knows, any female who participated in sports, especially at elite levels in team sports, risked being stigmatized as not a ‘real’ female” (ESPNW). Since this idea of a female athlete has been surrounded by this masculine interpretation, the ideology of a true female in sport, has built this misconception that continues to live on among female sports today. This negative framework is one of the reasons women in sports receive little to no support from their potential media supporters such as ESPN. If these women continue to be misportrayed through media as well as the male patriarchy, then improvement will not be possible for positive change. Bell Hooks mentions in her book entitled Feminism is for Everybody, “the aspect of feminist emphasis on work which did affect all women was the demand for equal pay for equal work. Women gained more rights in relation to salaries and positions as a result of feminist protest but it has not completely eliminated gender discrimination” (Hooks, 2000, pg. 49). Female athletes such as Ali Krieger, Becky Sauerbrunn, Carli Lloyd, and Hope Solo have stood up and spoken publicly about the gender pay gap between the US Men’s National team in comparison to their WNT which is massive. Hooks states that women such as those stated above continue to make the move in the feminist movement within the sports industry yet, the discrimination between genders continues to show prevalence. Hooks takes on the approach that feminism is not just for females, but is just as important to men as it is for women. In other words, these men need to realize that they are not being targeted as the enemy, instead, they are also involved in the movement and must strive to reduce the male patriarchy in hopes that someday it will be obliterated.

youtube

It’s clear that women in sports have been striving to make improvements within their male dominant industry through the feminist movement by speaking up about the media coverage gap as portrayed through ESPN and the historic partnership with A + E Network. Theoretical frameworks as brought on by Michael Messner, and Bell Hooks through feminism are what will make the positive impact these female soccer figures, along with other women in the sports industry, are searching for. To apply this academic language through present day media channels will place emphasis on the solution to these problems such as eliminating the male patriarchy and male dominant ideology around the sports industry. This will give more attention to the female athletic voice and place them on a higher platform to finally make the change and raise media coverage among all women in sports. In order to do so, we must be open to discussing the situations with others, although we’ve been taught to keep opinions to ourselves. Now is the time for that discussion. So let’s get started.

Reference

Hooks, Bell. (2000). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.

Messner, Michael. (2002). Taking the Field: Women, Men, and Sports Sport and Culture Series. Volume 4. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.

NWSL. (2017 Feb. 2). NWSL and A + E Networks Announce Historic Partnership. Retrieved from nwslsoccer.com

Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport Scholars. (2015 Jul 7). Even in the wake of a record-setting women’s world cup, myths still surround women’s sports. Retrieved from ESPNW.com

#mcst2030 #finalpost #victoria #diaz #espn #femaleshaming #female sports coverage

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alamante · 6 years ago

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His constituents are complaining about the state’s crumbling transit system. His own party wants to strip him of gubernatorial powers. The soccer team he owns is living in dire conditions, and one of his sons has been in trouble with the law.

What’s a newly elected governor with no experience in elected office to do? He takes a vacation far, far away.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy raised eyebrows last week as he embarked on a swanky 11-day trip to Italy, where he owns a $7 million home he bought during his 23-year stint at Goldman Sachs.

The trip comes just six months after Murphy — a Democrat and former diplomat under President Barack Obama — was elected to the top job in the state.

The governor’s office initially declined the reveal where Murphy was going for his holiday, but NJ.com solved the mystery and reported that Italy was the destination. The state’s taxpayers will pick up the tab for protecting the governor while he’s on vacation, with the tab reaching as much as $100,000.

Trouble is, when Murphy returns, New Jersey’s problems will still be there waiting for him. Here’s a look at some of them.

Broken promises

Despite the governor’s promises in February to ease overcrowding and service issues on New Jersey’s transit system by adding extra rail cars, commuters are complaining that not much progress has been made to actually alleviate the problem.

The plan to add new cars was short-lived. New Jersey leased 10 rail cars from the Maryland Transit Administration to alleviate the overcrowding, but returned them just eight weeks later when the lease ended.

“If my Uber bill this summer is any measure of success, improvement would not be the term I would use.”

– New Jersey commuter Niklaus Gunter

“What relief plans? I haven’t seen any relief,” one commuter told NJ.com.

“If my Uber bill this summer is any measure of success, improvement would not be the term I would use,” commuter Niklaus Gunter seconded. (Users of NJ Transit often wind up paying for cab or Uber/Lyft rides when their trains and buses fail to show up as scheduled.)

For what it’s worth, the NJ Tranist system appears to continue to crumble, with nearly a dozen trains getting canceled on Tuesday morning alone, infuriating commuters. NJ Transit at first offered no explanation, but later vaguely said the installation and testing of a rail safety system called Positive Train Control (PTC) and lack of staff were the reasons for cancellations.

“NJ Transit has taken steps to address these issues by recruiting and training additional locomotive engineers. We anticipate a class graduating within the next couple of weeks that will add nine engineers to the roster,” the statement from NJ Transit reads.

“In addition, we have increased the number of current classes from two to four, running concurrently with staggered graduation dates, to continue the qualification of new engineers,” it added.

Power strip?

The New Jersey governor’s struggles to solve issues may also embolden already existing calls from within his own party to strip him of powers when it comes to deciding how much money various taxes and programs should raise each year, NorthJersey.com reported.

The power to set revenue estimates is crucial as it determines how much the state will need to hike taxes to fund spending priorities. Democrats suggest the role should be shifted to a three-member panel consisting of experts, a move that they say would take politics out of budget calculations and increase transparency.

But Murphy has fought back against the proposal, saying it would upset the balance of power between him and the legislative branch of the state government.

“New Jersey’s Constitution carefully divides the authority in the budgetary process between the Legislature, who has the power to appropriate funds, and the Executive, who has the authority to certify revenues,” Murphy spokesman Dan Bryan said in a statement to the outlet.

“Unlike his predecessor, Governor Murphy is committed to certifying revenues that are realistic, responsible, and sustainable, and feels that it is unwise to disrupt the separation of powers that has existed in this area for over 70 years.”

Soccer team under scrutiny

Closer to home, Murphy is also facing questions about a professional women’s soccer team he co-owns. The club, called Sky Blue FC, faces allegations that it’s mismanaged and provides poor living conditions and subpar facilities to its players.

“Some players were forced to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable.”

– The Equalizer report on Murphy’s soccer team.

The team’s players include U.S. women’s World Cup star Carli Lloyd.

Carli Lloyd, a star on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, is among the players on Phil Murphy’s sad-sack Sky Blue FC club.

The governor bought the team a decade ago as a way to impress his daughter. According to NJTV, he “has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in this losing proposition” just so “his daughter, who plays soccer, could see that women can play soccer at the professional level as well.”

But the club’s training facilities lacked locker rooms or even running water, the Equalizer reported. The players have had to use portable restrooms and have worn dirty gear during practices because there are barely any laundry services.

Another report, published by the soccer news site Once A Metro, detailed the mismanagement of the team and how little interest Murphy actually has taken in it, though it has cost him nearly half a million dollars in recent years.

The report alleges the club failed to provide decent housing for some players, forcing them to sleep on couches, and use sheets of cardboard to cover broken windows. The Equalizer reported as well that “some players were forced to live with an elderly man who repeatedly made inappropriate comments to the players and made them feel uncomfortable.”

Murphy admitted that the conditions weren’t acceptable and said the team deserved better treatment. “I don’t find the status quo tolerable — and these players deserve better,” he said in a statement, according to NorthJersey.com. “They deserve to operate in a professional and supportive environment so they can do what they do best — play the game, inspire fans, and build community through the power of the world’s most popular sport.”

Troublemaker son

But Murphy’s rough six-month reign as governor isn’t his only headache. His 20-year-old son, Joshua Murphy, who relentlessly campaigned for him during the 2017 election, had multiple run-ins with the law since Murphy’s rise to prominence.

In June, prosecutors dismissed a complaint concerning the governor’s son, NJ.com reported. He faced charges of underage drinking and disorderly conduct as he allegedly shouted obscenities at a campus police officer on Halloween as he was partying with two young women. According to police, Joshua Murphy ended the night on the ground in handcuffs.

In February, the son drove off a steep slope in Connecticut, the outlet reported, citing police records. His SUV was found by a motorist. According to police reports, Murphy said he crashed the car at early morning and he was unable to contact anyone for help because his phone didn’t work after the crash.

The governor and his wife lashed out against the media for reporting about his son’s endeavors, saying Joshua “has been living a nightmare” thanks to media inquiries.

Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @LukasMikelionis.

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comm4000 · 8 years ago

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Discrimination in Women’s Soccer

Noa Berzon, Miranda Johnson, Alex Monahan and Sydney

Our topic represents a problematic issue in contemporary sports culture because it highlights the perpetrating issue of sexism in a rapidly growing industry. This topic warrants critical engagement because discrimination against women is a widespread issue within the entire sports industry and sends a shameful message that the philosophies of this multibillion dollar business exacerbate patriarchal values and inequality. Our project will mainly argue that women are discriminated in professional soccer, and we intend to support this claim by critiquing and analyzing the economical statistics surrounding unequal pay, misrepresentations from bias media coverage, provocative appearances that reiterate cultural ideologies and Hope Solo in relation to male athletes. For the video portion of the assignment, our group plans to create voice-over commentary in iMovie.

Hope Solo

Hope Solo wins the Golden Glove in 2015

Before going into the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada in 2015 Hope Solo was surrounded by controversy if she should have a place on the American team due to events off of the soccer field. But at the end of the World Cup Solo and the Americans beat the Japanese in a 5-2 victory that resulted in Solo winning the Golden Glove, the second time in Solo was honored as the top goalkeeper.As the backbone of the U.S. Solo only let one goal in during the opening match and two goals in the final game against Japan. Although being the top women’s goalie Solo’s off-field issues are creating unrest within the organization. She served a month long suspension after following the arrest of her husband for a DUI while driving a team van (Booth, 2015). Her arrest in June of 2014 after an altercation at her half-sister’s house is also worrisome even though the charges were dismissed. Conditions were put on Solo for her return even though they were not made public, she later acknowledged she going to take time to focus on herself and even launched a blog to share her feelings on her journey.

Solo's Reaction after lose to Sweden

Hope Solo defeat against Sweden

Since 2005 Hope Solo has been the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s soccer team and the preferred starter in three continuous World Cup games and three Olympic tournaments. In 2007 Solo spoke out in anger against the Women’s Coach at the time for starting the backup goaltender in the World Cup Semifinal when the US lost 4-0 and in 2012 during the London Olympics she took to Twitter and criticized her former teammate Brandi Chastain. Later in 2014 Solo was charged with domestic violence and her husband was arrested with a DUI.

While there is no goalkeeper one the women’s team that can measure up to Solo, it wasn’t until the 2016 Rio Games that U.S. soccer choice to terminate Solo’s contract for 6 months for “conduct that is counter to the organization’s principles” stated U.S. Soccer (Das, 2016). After multiple conversations in private with Solo about her behavior the U.S. Soccer Federation determined this was the best next course of action. Rich Nichols, general counsel the women’s national team stated, “She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for.” (Das, 2016).

Hope Solo in The Body Issue

Hope Solo athletically poses nude

In Kane’s (2011) article “Sex Sells Sex, Not Women’s Sports,” Kane describes to her readers that, “Over the past three decades we have amassed a large body of empirical evidence demonstrating that sportswomen are significantly more likely to be portrayed in ways that emphasize their femininity and heterosexuality rather than their athletic prowess” (p. 2). Along with such femininity and heterosexuality comes trivialization and sexualization of women in sports. Women (in sports or not) have been sexualized, as we saw in the most recent election, and deployed as locker room jokes among men. It is not difficult to imagine than, that the image of nude Hope Solo stirred up discourse as to whether she is reproducing the sexual images of women that feed into gender role relations or if she is disrupting that gender role to showcase what Kane calls a “continuum of difference between and among bodies of all sexes and genders” (Messner, 2013, p.119).

Some of course, see Solo’s image as her selling out to the “sexist stereotypes attached to every female sphere of athletic endeavor” and others may approve of The Body Issue photo considering male athletes like David Beckham have been trading on their sex appeal for decades (Tidey, 2011). One Bleacher Report article summarizes that it is not “Solo’s sex symbol status that threatens to undermine women’s soccer, it is the outdated stereotypes which continue to linger in the stuffy corridors of male thinking” (Tidey, 2011). “Most male viewers want to think of women as sexual objects of desire, or perhaps as mothers, but not as powerful, competent, competitive athletes” (Cooky, Messner, & Hextrum, 2013, p. 223). If we paid attention instead, to Solo’s “abilities and accomplishments” we would discover that Solo is disrupting “mid 20th century myths of categorical male body superiority” with this photo and that her talents, rather than her nudity can “match anybody on the planet” - yes, even those of a man (Messner, 2013; Tidey, 2011).

Seattle Reign FC defender Stephanie Cox

Cox holds daughter Kaylee, greeted by Washington Spirit opponent (but US National teammate) Ali Krieger at a league game

Yet, this viewing experience for male viewers meshes “neatly with the feeling of a locker room culture that continues to affirm the centrality of men” (Cooky et al., 2013, p. 223). Now that “viewing the woman athlete through the male gaze of sexualized humor is apparently (and thankfully) discredited; instead, women athletes are being repackaged to be seen through another male gaze – as family members” (Cooky et al., 2013, p. 224). We are shifting from making the woman athlete familiar and consumable to a male audience by sexualizing her to now remarketing the woman athlete into familiar roles as mothers, girlfriends, or wives” (Cooky et al., 2013, p. 224). Again, there is a public view of women athletes from the vantage point, or the stuffy corridor of men’s continued positions of centrality in social life (Tidey, 2011; Cooky et al., 2013).

This new frame of perceiving women in sports was “especially evident in the televised coverage of the 2012 Olympics” where coverage focused on “women athletes as family members and mothers who have made difficult individual choices to pursue their Olympic dreams” (Messner, 2013, p. 120). Being an athlete and a mom seems to highlight the ways in which men are simply “linear creatures naturally disposed to sports” and that conversely, male athlete families are hardly ever mentioned (Messner, 2013, p.120). Female athlete moms like Stephanie Cox are the ones crafting their pregnancies around World Cups and Olympics and although women soccer players and teams seem to be an awesome environment for the kids, one cannot help but wonder, where are the fathers?

Getting pregnant, even during off season still jeopardizes a female athlete’s career as there is a chance they will not be invited back to play: Cox reflects on the hard reality of knowing that you may have to let go of your entire career in order to become a mother (McDermott, 2013). But are male athletes as fathers faced with this as well? No, “female athletes have far fewer career opportunities outside the Olympics” compared to their male athlete counterparts (Burch, 2016). Male athletes do not have to balance out their off seasons with fatherhood nor do they have to wait until retirement to make such decisions. They simply get right back on the field and their family is never mentioned. For nearly all female athletes however, the cost of missing the Olympics is too high to contemplate (Burch 2016). Fatherhood is invisible in sport whereas motherhood is a role where “commentators (especially at the 2012 Olympics) frequently foreground successful women athletes’ status” to that of only a mere wife and mother: this also overshadows women in sport (Cooky et al., 2013, p. 218). “The sports media can reinforce deep-rooted ideologies and stereotypes, but it also has the potential to resist sex-role stereotyping by promoting female athletes as talented performers worthy of respect and emulation” after all (Weber & Carini, 2012, p. 197).

The United States national team members Megan Rapinoe, top; Carli Lloyd (10); and Hope Solo (1) last year during a victory over Japan for the World Cup title. Frank Fife/Agence France Presse – getty images

Top Female Players Accuse U.S. Soccer of Wage Discrimination

As the nation enjoyed the spectacle of the USA national team faced off against Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup, it was not long after until another battle was being fought off the field. After the success of the US Women's National team many of the players formed a petition addressed to the soccer US soccer league for equal pay for equal work. In an investigation from the Equal Employment Opportunity commission found that in 20 exhibition matches, or friendlies, woman would receive around 40 percent less than their male counterparts. Women received a salary based income which when divided up into the exhibition matches averaged around thirty-six-hundred dollars a match. Compared to their male counterparts (not on salary based pays), men would be guaranteed five-thousand dollars a match. Depending on whether the teams win or not, there can be added “bonuses” added on top of their already existing income; but this divide becomes even more apparent with men and women. Women can make an extra thirteen-hundred a match if won, however men can more than double their initial five-thousand. (Yourish, 2016)

Graph depicting the immense difference between salaries and bonuses between male and female soccer athletes. (Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

How Much Less Are Female Soccer Players Paid?

The reason for this, the soccer league stands behind the fact that male sports teams generate more viewership and merchandise whereas women’s teams have virtually no televised footprint. But is this the fault of the women's team? In the 2015-16 season the women's team did phenomenally well, however much if not the only televised performance by them was during the world championship and then quickly forgotten after their success. The issue still remains the same, in the example of exhibition matches at the beginning of the season, men can receive one-hundred thousand dollars for just showing up to a game. To clarify five thousand dollars over twenty games regardless of winning or losing, men are guaranteed one-hundred thousand dollars to show up. Whereas the women in best case scenario, winning each of their exhibition matches would only receive ninety-nine thousand. So regardless of athletic ability, women in the US soccer league today will still be valued less than the worst male soccer stars.

TV Frame Shot of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

The media is a key component that critically shapes the public’s perspective, and lack of coverage of women’s soccer has been an ongoing problem for decades. In general, female athletes receive substantially less coverage than males across all platforms, but especially in broadcast. A long-term study revealed that ESPN’s Sports Center, who is the leading name in sports news, only dedicated 2% of its airtime to women’s sports in 2014 (Kroh, 2014). Furthermore, women soccer players are repetitively told that their games are not attracting viewers, hence why they aren’t receiving a comparable amount of airtime/coverage that men tend to get. However, several would argue that this notion is invalid because research indicates that 26.7 million Americans opted into watching the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This is a greater number than those who tuned into the 2015 NBA Finals championship game between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Also, this number does not include the 86 million viewers worldwide who streamed the game online (Mitchell, 2016).

Allie Long Talks Victory Over France at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Past and present media coverage continually fails to effectively capture women in an athletic capacity and professional female soccer players are no exception. When sports broadcasters and journalists do take the time to devote their segments to women’s soccer, they often negate the player’s athletic achievements and don’t portray them in the same “heroic” manner that men are. In fact, commentary frequently tends to downplay women’s athletic performance and substitutes reports and analysis using “feministic terms” such as wife, mother, etc. Comparatively worse, female soccer players tend to have their athletic careers and narratives reported/commented on using their male counterparts as a reference point. According to a source from the University of North Texas, during the Olympics, a female soccer player was referred to as "the Roberto Carlos of women's soccer in Brazil" (Kolsti, 2004). I would criticize this comment for initiating a compliment with a sexist undertone. And this certainly isn’t the first time where women are compared to male athletes in media. Additionally, media production is to blame for the lack of women’s coverage, because they are not putting forth the effort to generate the equivalent “hype” in their content that they do for men. Men’s sports are accounted for being more exciting, valuable, and they benefit from higher-quality coverage and commentary afterward. However, when women’s sporting events are covered such as the Women’s World Cup, there are fewer camera angles involved, fewer cut shots and instant replays which create the perception that the game is slower paced and “boring” (Mertens, 2015).

It is evident that our topic represents a problematic issue in contemporary sports culture because women that work just as hard for equal, if not more success are not getting the coverage, pay or respect that they deserve. It is also clear that sexism in soccer reflects the sports media complex but really, on a much larger scale we have a cultural issue in our society that perpetually places athletic women and women in general, beneath men both on and off the field.

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