After a six year legal battle, the U.S. women’s national soccer team has finally prevailed. This week, U.S. Soccer, the federation that serves as the national governing body of the sport, reached an agreement with the team on a $24 million settlement and a promise to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s national teams in all future competitions.
The win comes after a long and public battle in which UWNST took U.S. Soccer to court over wage discrimination, with some of the team’s star players claiming they were being paid as little as 40% of what those on the men’s national team were being paid, even while the women were winning World Cup and Olympic gold medal titles. The $24 million, a tacit acknowledgement of uneven pay scales, will be split among dozens of current and former national team players. $2 million will be set aside for charitable endeavors.
