Wage equality is the goal for the USWNT

Despite having won several World Cups, while the men have won zero, the USWNT still gets paid considerably less. (Photo via Flickr/Rachael C. King)

My father, like most children who grow up in Mexico, played soccer in his free time. So naturally, when the time came for me to play a sport, he encouraged me to also play the sport he had grown to love so much. It was not until years later that my dad told me about snide comments made by a few of our friends and family because he had allowed me, a women, to play a sport that in Mexico is widely considered to be reserved only for men. In the United States, the state of women’s soccer is leaps and bounds ahead to any other program in the world; however, there are still barriers preventing women from becoming the best that they can be.

The U.S. women’s national team (USWNT) made headlines this past week as five of their top players took a stand in demanding equal pay. Their filing of a wage-discrimination action is warranted, especially when the USWNT makes millions more in revenue than the men’s side. This is an enigma in a world where men’s sports dominate popular culture. It is simply unfair that the women get paid less for winning championships than the men do for simply showing up and it is about time that someone do something about it.