USWNT stars Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan spoke out this morning about Friday’s “shocking” court ruling that rejected the U.S. women’s national team’s claim for equal pay.
“This decision was out of left field,” Morgan told Robin Roberts during “Good Morning America.” “We will be appealing and moving forward. If anyone knows anything about the heart of this team, we are fighters and will continue to fight together for this.”
Last week, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Judge R. Gary Klausner sided with the U.S. Soccer Federation — and ruled against the women’s discrimination claim that that they were paid less than the U.S. men, finding that they earned more overall and for each game.
During the ruling, Judge Klausner cited the women’s team’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with U.S. Soccer that prioritized guaranteed money over a “pay-to-play” structure, which is in the men’s contract.
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“Plaintiffs cannot now retroactively deem their CBA worse than the [men’s agreement] by reference to what they would have made had they been paid under the [men’s] pay-to-play structure when they themselves rejected such a structure,” Klausner wrote in the summary.
Rapinoe told Roberts, “If we were under the men’s contract we’d be making three times more.” She added, “The rate of pay is just so different. It’s so frustrating so many women go through this.”
For instance, since the women’s team won the World Cup twice, they would have been paid much more money if their contracts were the same as their male counterparts, according to agreements. Plus, their bonuses for friendly matches and other tournaments are far lower in comparison. The men’s team have never won an Olympic gold medal or advanced past the World Cup quarterfinals since finishing in third place in 1930.
“This is definitely a hurdle in the road but its nothing that’s going to stop or deter us from what we have always been true to and that’s true equality in this sport,” Morgan said in the interview.
