http://www.businessinsider.com/uswnt-files-wage-discrimination-complaint-against-us-soccer-federation-2016-3
When scrolling through Business Insider yesterday, I came across this article that perfectly applied to our conversation in class regarding men and women having the same job yet men being paid more. In this article they focus in on the US men's and women's soccer teams. For soccer teams, especially at the Olympic Team level, both squads put in equal amounts of work yet there work is valued differently. Four women on the US women's team including goal keeper Hope Solo are filing lawsuits claiming gross disparity of wages. There is a significant quote in this article saying that "last season, the women's team generated nearly $20 million more in revenue than the men's national team." Ok. So if the women are generating more money for the US and being more successful in the actual World Cup, why are they still being paid significantly less than the mediocre men's team? I think that this is a really interesting article because the women are constantly being asked to prove themselves in society because men seem reluctant to help and in terms of the soccer world, these women through World Cup medals and much more have definitely proven themselves and then some, yet they still do not receive fair pay. I remember the YouTube video we watched in class where the man challenges women to provide all of these answers and facts as to why women are not being paid fairly and that is outrageous to me. He is saying that women deserve to be in the position that they are in and it is there responsibility to climb out of this hole where in reality, it is the mans responsibility to present these issues at hand and do what they can to help this very prevalent issue. I definitely recommend a read of this article, very interesting.
JR, I saw this article as well and think that it perfectly relates to our class discussions. This is the perfect case study because as you mentioned the job and work required is almost identical, yet the women get paid significantly less. I was shocked when the USA soccer program said they were "disappointed" in the women for choosing these actions. If I were one of the women affected, I would do the exact same thing and I think that what they are asking for is blatantly obvious. All the numbers and facts show that the system is skewed to the men's advantage for no reason what so ever. Hopefully these women get the pay they deserve for their hard work!
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