US Women’s National Team deserves a win for wage equality

April 12 marked Equal Pay Day, a day highlighting the fact that it takes women on average 16 months and 12 days to make the same amount as men do in a year.

This is particularly poignant in the sports world this year, as the U.S. Women’s National Team recently exposed the issues concerning equal pay for equal play in the world of women’s professional soccer through a lawsuit filed March 31.

National team members Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Becky Sauerbrunn and Megan Rapinoe filed a wage discrimination complaint against U.S. Soccer, the governing body of the men’s and women’s national teams. In a time when women earn 79 cents to every man’s dollar, female national team players are paid far less than their male counterparts, too.

For example, in friendly matches between the U.S. and foreign opponents, men’s players get $5,000 for a loss and up to $17,625 for a win. Women get paid $1,350, but only in the case of a victory.

“We ultimately decided to file this motion for all the little girls around the world who deserve the same respect as well as the boys,” Morgan wrote in a column for Cosmopolitan on Tuesday. “They deserve a voice, and if we as professional athletes don’t leverage the voices we have, we are letting them down.”

The resulting criticism that followed this move by the women’s soccer players has centered around the quality of the women’s game. People just aren’t interested, opponents to the wage disparity claim argued. The women don’t play as well or attract as much attention.

That is objectively false.

Just last week, the U.S. Women’s National Team, which includes two former UCLA women’s soccer players, sold out Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania, and defeated Colombia 3-0 in front of 17,275 fans. Against France last month, the U.S. scraped out a 1-0 win over its international foe with a crowd of 25,363 watching. Since this time last year, the U.S. has played in front of crowds numbering more than 10,000 people except for just three times.

The men’s team, on the other hand, has failed to draw the same crowds this year – with 8,803 and 9,274 coming out to cheer the team on in Olympic qualifying matches. It’s not just the women’s spectators who are better either, the team itself is superior. The U.S. men will not be competing in Rio de Janeiro this summer, whereas the women are poised to make yet another a run for gold.

These women have reached this point in the realm of international soccer in spite of all the criticism – that they aren’t as good or can’t draw the same amount of attention to the sport. Soccer is a comparatively unpopular sport in the United States, and yet these women have managed to make a name for themselves.

Despite the lack of support and funds the women’s national team has managed to make history. They have fought for the right to play and the right to be recognized. And now here they are, one of the country’s best teams and a favorite to win gold at this summer’s Olympic Games.

These women don’t just deserve more money – they deserve more respect.