At White House, Megan Rapinoe says she\u2019s been \u2018disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman\u2019
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/za2-768x769-1-300x300-1-300x173.png\")
\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Megan Rapinoe took the U.S. women\u2019s national soccer team\u2019s battle for equal pay to the White House on Wednesday, declaring while on a stage with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden that, despite her enormous success with the team, \u201cI have been devalued, I\u2019ve been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking at an event marking Equal Pay Day, Rapinoe declared, \u201cDespite all of the wins, I am still paid less than men who do the same job that I do. For each trophy \u2013 of which there are many \u2013 for each win, each tie and for each time that we play, it\u2019s less.\u201dRapinoe, who testified earlier in the day about gender discrimination at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. introduced President Biden as \u201cone of our greatest allies.\u201d
\nIn his remarks, Biden spoke of how the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated inequalities for women in the workplace, touted the benefits of the American Rescue Plan and called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy administration is going to fight for equal pay,\u201d he said before signing a proclamation that marked National Equal Pay Day 2021. \u201cIt\u2019s about justice, it\u2019s about fairness, it\u2019s about living up to our values and who we are as a nation. Equal pay makes all of us stronger.\u201d
\nThe 35-year-old Rapinoe, who plays professionally for OL Reign of the National Women\u2019s Soccer League, is an Olympic gold medalist and a two-time World Cup champion. In 2019, the last full year of international competition, she won the Golden Ball award as the best overall player at the World Cup, the Golden Boot award as the tournament\u2019s leading scorer and was named women\u2019s world player of the year. She is an outspoken critic of the U.S. Soccer Federation\u2019s treatment of the women\u2019s national team and was a major figure behind a gender-discrimination lawsuit filed against the USSF in 2019.A portion of the lawsuit related to accusations of unequal pay compared to the American men\u2019s team was dismissed by a federal judge last year, a decision the players are appealing. In December, the USWNT reached a settlement with the USSF over working conditions that promised to put the team on equal footing with the men\u2019s side in matters such as game venues, travel accommodations and staffing.<\/p>\n
During her testimony Wednesday, Rapinoe said that \u201cthere is no level of status, accomplishments, or power that will protect you from the clutches of inequity.\u201d
\n\u201cOne cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination of any kind,\u201d she added in her opening statement.
\nRapinoe was joined in person at the White House event by another member of the USWNT, Margaret \u201cMidge\u201d Purce, while approximately 25 teammates were shown on a video monitor watching remotely. Purce, a 25-year-old native of Silver Spring, Md., is also the executive director of Black Women\u2019s Player Collective, an organization begun last year with a stated goal of providing \u201ca collective voice to the Black perspective and experience of a professional female athlete amidst the incessant and pervasive racial inequality and social injustice plaguing our country.\u201d
\nWith Rapinoe and the Bidens looking on, Purce was the first to speak at Wednesday\u2019s event. She said she has been told at times that \u201cthere just isn\u2019t enough interested in women\u2019s sports.\u201d
\nNoting that men\u2019s sports leagues have had a decades-long head start and have benefited from \u201cbillions in taxpayer subsidies,\u201d Purce said, \u201cYou would never expect a flower to bloom without water, but women in sport who have been denied water, sunlight and soil are somehow expected to blossom. Invest in women, then let\u2019s talk again when you see the return.\u201dJill Biden followed Purce and talked of how the pay disparity she experienced as a teacher stung her even more for the \u201clack of respect\u201d than for the loss of income.
\n\u201cA job is so much more than a paycheck,\u201d the first lady said, \u201cbut our paychecks reflect how we are valued by our employers and even by our communities. . . . I don\u2019t want my granddaughters to have to fight this same battle.\u201d
\nRapinoe is one of the most highly decorated members of a team that has had consistent success for years, winning four World Cup and four Olympic championships as it has outperformed the U.S. men\u2019s national team.
\n\u201cMegan Rapinoe\u2019s testimony illustrated how all women \u2013 even World Cup champions and Olympic gold medalists \u2013 are subject to gender pay inequities,\u201d Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the House committee, said in a statement. \u201cAt today\u2019s hearing, witnesses including Ms. Rapinoe testified that more needs to be done to ensure pay equity for all women regardless of race and income level. I applaud the hard work of all our witnesses in the continued fight for equality.\u201d
\nUSSF President Cindy Parlow Cone, a former national team player, said in a statement: \u201cMegan has always represented the United States Women\u2019s National Team and our country with honor and distinction. We thank and applaud Megan for being a champion for equal pay. With our new leadership at U.S. Soccer and so much to look forward to, my hope is the players will accept our standing invitation to meet and find a path forward that serves the women\u2019s team now and in the future.
\n\u201cWe, too, are committed to equal pay,\u201d continued Parlow, who replaced Carlos Cordeiro as the federation\u2019s president in March 2020 after he abruptly stepped down amid widespread criticism of its legal response to the players\u2019 lawsuit. \u201cIn the meantime, U.S. Soccer will continue to be a global leader in investing in women\u2019s soccer to drive the growth of the women\u2019s game across the world.\u201dRegarding the millions of dollars in back pay that Rapinoe and others have claimed they deserve, the USSF has said that a large portion of it is related to World Cup prize money, which is controlled by FIFA, soccer\u2019s international governing body.
\nAt the White House event, Rapinoe said, \u201cI know there are millions of people who are marginalized by gender in the world and experience the same thing in their jobs. And I know there are people who experience even more, where the layers of discrimination continue to stack against them. And I and my teammates are here for them.
\n\u201cWe on the U.S. women\u2019s national Team, are here today because of them.\u201d
\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re an electrician, an accountant or part of the best damn soccer team in the world \u2013 the pay gap is real,\u201d said President Biden. \u201cAnd this team is living proof that you can be the very best at what you do and still have to fight for equal pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Washington Post\u2019s Colby Itkowitz contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At White House, Megan Rapinoe says she\u2019s been \u2018disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman\u2019 WASHINGTON \u2013 Megan Rapinoe took the U.S. women\u2019s national soccer team\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"yoast_head":"\n