UltraViolet Celebrates Equal Pay Victory for US Women’s Soccer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, February 22, 2022
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
UltraViolet Celebrates Equal Pay Victory for US Women’s Soccer
Over the Weekend, US Soccer Agreed to a $24M Settlement, Pledge to Equalize Pay for Men’s & Women’s National Teams
WASHINGTON, DC — This morning, the New York Times reported that the World Cup-winning women’s soccer team of the United States reached a settlement with US soccer, the sport’s national governing body, that includes a multimillion-dollar payment to women players and pledge by US soccer to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s teams.
According to the Times, “Under the terms of the agreement, the athletes — a group comprising several dozen current and former women’s national team players — will share $24 million in payments from the federation, U.S. Soccer. The bulk of that figure is back pay, a tacit admission that compensation for the men’s and women’s teams had been unequal for years.
Celebrating this historic victory, Bridget Todd, communications director for UltraViolet, a leading national gender justice organization that has supported the women’s soccer players, issued the following statement:
“The US women’s national soccer team are heroes both on and off the field. We celebrate their long deserved victory of equal pay with them today.
“At the same time, equal pay for equal work is not a reality for many women. Women lose more than $400,000 in earnings over a lifetime due to the pay discrimination – that number doubles for women of color.
“We hope this victory is a reminder for all women: you deserve equal pay for equal work.”
In 2015, Ultraviolet pressured FIFA to close the pay gap after the 2015 Women’s World Cup champions netted only $2 million for their win, while the winners of the 2014 men’s World Cup netted $35 million. In contrast, the US men’s team was awarded a whopping $8 million prize after losing in the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup. As part of the effort, more than 72,000 UltraViolet members signed onto a petition urging FIFA demanding equal pay for the US Women’s National soccer team. VIEW THE PETITION HERE: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/fifa_women/
In 2019, UltraViolet targeted US Soccer demanding they enact an equal pay policy for men and women. Not long after, UltraViolet and members organized a petition delivery at US Soccer headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. VIEW THE PETITION HERE: https://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/us_soccer_equal_pay/
Earlier this year, UltraViolet resurfaced a TV ad from 2016 Olympics calling for the United States women’s soccer team to receive equal pay. VIEW THE AD HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNRyHbbaeRM&feature=youtu.be
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