Challenging the Gender Pay Gap: How Female Soccer Players Are Making Strides

Highlights

The gender pay gap in women's soccer is a complex issue, influenced by factors such as lower revenue and media coverage compared to men's soccer.
Female football players earn an average of 60% less than their male counterparts, with some countries exhibiting even wider disparities.
Through lawsuits, strikes, and negotiations, female players have made significant progress in challenging the gender pay gap and securing fair compensation in football.

The gender pay gap is a pervasive problem across many modern industries, including sports. The issue has long plagued women athletes, but recent developments – including commercial initiatives and progressive athletic initiatives – have been set to challenge this pervasive issue and level the playing field.

The nature of the wage gap problem is not limited to only the differences in the amounts on the respective paychecks men and women receive for their on field performances – it extends to other arenas such as sponsorship deals, bonuses, and even opportunities for career progression.

Women's sports have witnessed remarkable growth in the past few years; it has increasingly attracted more viewership and additional investors, and it is only equitable that these achievements are met with commensurate recognition.

The Highest Paid Female Soccer Players, Ranked

Women's soccer is on the rise, and the money is following. Players are shattering glass ceilings and securing the bag.

The Gender Pay Gap In Soccer

The gender pay gap in female football is a multifaceted issue, with several contributing factors. One glaring factor is that women's soccer is simply not as popular as men's soccer, leading to much less revenue generation, and in turn limiting the amount of money that can be paid to the players.

Women's soccer is also often viewed as a secondary sport to men's soccer, a perception reflected in the media coverage it gets (creating a self-perpetuating cycle). The sport is also rife with sexism and discrimination, and the earnings related disparity between male and female football players is striking compared to other professional sports.

A report by FIFPRO, the global players' union, revealed that female football players earn, on average, 60 percent less than male players; these differences are noticeably wider in some countries, with females earning as little as two percent of what male players make. Another study in 2019 by The Guardianrevealed that the highest-paid female soccer player (Ada Hegerberg) received $450,000 that year ... whereas the top 1,693 highest-paid male soccer players each made more than that.

In the most recent World Cup cycle, the governing body of global football (FIFA) offered a prize of $42 million to Argentina for winning the 2022 World Cup – and just $4.3 million to the Spanish team for their triumph in the Women's World Cup 2023.

In all, FIFA offered a total of $450 million for the men's World Cup and just $33 million for the women's tournament, a glaring disparity that has significantly skewed the playing ground and left aspiring young girls uncertain about pursuing a career in soccer.

Challenging The Gender Pay Gap In Soccer

In a quest to bridge the gender pay gap in football, female players have been at the forefront of this battle, demanding fair compensation and recognition for their talents and dedication to the game. In 2016, five US Women's National Team members – Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, and Becky Sauerbrunn – filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, alleging gender pay discrimination.

The case was settled in 2020 for $24 million, and it was considered a major success for female soccer players. This lawsuit had a domino effect on other female football teams worldwide.

The Australian Women's National team went on strike after failing to reach an agreement with the Australian Football Federation. The issue was later resolved, and a collective bargaining agreement was reached, which saw the Federation agree to the salary cap and minimum medical standards for the female players.

In 2017, Norwegian female soccer players led by Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg announced that the nation's football association agreed to set up an equal pay structure, which would see the men forgo certain commercial payments (which were given to the female players).

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Trinity Rodman is the youngest daughter of Dennis Rodman and also the youngest soccer player to be drafted in NWSL history.

The Nation Women's Soccer League has been treated like nothing more than a side hustle by the governing body in the past decades. However, following years of protests by the players, the NWSL and the players' association agreed to their first collective bargaining agreement in 2022 – which saw the minimum wage of the female players increase by 60 percent from $22,000 in 2021 to $35,000 – and the new structure also provided bonuses and 401(k) contributions.

The female football sphere has also seen considerable success off the field. The 2023 Women's World Cup saw a significant increase in supporters, with an average of over 25,000 fans attending the games, a 29 percent increase from the previous tournament in France in 2019.

The biggest sporting event for women also had over three billion viewers tune in to watch the final game, setting a new record for women's soccer (that the next tournament will hopefully shatter). The future of equal pay in female football looks bright as the players continue to give their best while receiving fair rewards.

Achieving gender equality in sports goes beyond simply closing the wage gap; it requires dismantling systemic barriers while fostering an inclusive environment where there is equity and justice.