Ad highlights the persistent and unfair pay gap for some of America’s most highly-decorated athletes.
National women’s advocacy organization UltraViolet, aired a new ad on NBC stations in Seattle and Baltimore calling for the US Women’s National soccer team players to receive equal pay for equal play.
Despite winning three World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals—the US Women’s National soccer team still earn significantly less than the US men’s team players.
The thirty second ad highlights the glass-wall that remains for US women’s soccer players and there are plans for the ad to run on major sports websites like ESPN.com.
Earlier this year, five prominent and highly decorated members of the US women’s national soccer team (currently Women’s World Cup and Olympics champions) filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over persistent wage discrimination by the governing body for soccer in America, US Soccer.
Co-founder of UltraViolet Nita Chaudhary explained, “The US women’s team is the best in the world –with three World Cup championships, four Olympic gold medals—they have brought tremendous prestige to US soccer and inspired a passion for sports in young women across the world. They’re even favored to win Olympic gold in Rio again this year.
That’s why it’s so disgraceful that despite these tremendous successes these sports heroes are still paid less than half the pay of the US men’s team, which has never even won a single World Cup or an Olympic championship.
Our message to US soccer is simple: women deserve equal pay for equal play.”
Chaudhary also added that the US Women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay speaks to the very real pay gap that still exists in the US
Last year, UltraViolet pressured FIFA to close the pay gap after the 2015 Women’s World Cup champions were given$2 million for their win, while the winners of the 2014 men’s World Cup were given $35 million.
More than 72,000 UltraViolet members signed onto a petition urging FIFA to close the pay gap for the US Women’s National soccer team.
View the petition here