Battle for Equality in Women's Soccer
I think everyone reading this can agree that women sports and athletes have not and are not given the same opportunity as men sports and athletes. Look no further than the 2015 World Cup. The USWNT won the World Cup and brought home a measly $2 million home in prize money. While the German men's team brought home a whopping $35 million after winning World Cup in Brazil. During the same World Cup in Brazil the men's US team, who were knocked out in the round of 16, brought how $9 million in prize money. This discrepancy in prize money is outrageous! Aside from the salary gap, the issue of fair playing surfaces was a huge controversy. While the men always get to play on beautiful grass, the women has to play on turf. Anyone who has played on turf knows not only are you more sore after a game but if you happen to do any slide tackling your body will pay the price for it. Abby Wambach said, "It's kind of a nightmare. Playing on turf affects everything from the way the ball bounces to the bloody turf burns the surface leaves on legs and arms."
When evaluating these numbers remember that when you play and represent your country it is 100% volunteer. They are not getting paid at all. The average National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) players' salaries range from $6,000 to $30,000 and the average MLS player in 2015 made about 290,000. The women on the USWNT are almost completely reliant on sponsorship money because the leagues do not pay very well and winning big tournaments like the World Cup and Olympic do not pay well either. Male athletes in general won't ever have to find a career after their career in their sport. While female athletes have to find some way of making money to support themselves and their family.
Even with this huge salary gap, women's soccer in America has been exploding with the success of the USWNT. With the recent World Cup win and recent Olympic Gold medals, the team is receiving a lot more attention. (Well deserved attention!)
To fully understand the recent success I think it is important to understand the genesis of the success. In 1972, Title IX gave women sports the ability to grow at the youth, high school, and collegiate level.
Youth Female Soccer Participants
High School Female Soccer Participants
College Female Soccer Teams
The charts above show how the combination of Title IX and the success of the USWNT can cause the popularity of a sport to soar. From my experience of watching the national team's fan base change, there has been one defining moment of growth. This moment was the 2011 World Cup. Even though they ended up getting runner up those games changed the way people looked at women's soccer. Sports fan revel in the games that go down to the wire. The team came home and fans were cheering like they won and news stations were inviting the players like they had won the World Cup. Even when the team did not accomplish their goal of winning a World Cup they did accomplish their alternate goal of increasing their fan base.
The USWNT is currently preparing for the Olympics in Brazil. They won the CONCACAF tournament, for the 7th time, and are the heavy favorites going into the Olympics. Even through all of these obstacles of inequality the teams popularity is soaring and the opportunities for women soccer players to make their passion their career is rising.
