Pay-gap conversations are continuing to progress just days after the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup ended, with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) becoming the latest to offer a solution to the controversy.
Manchin introduced a bill Tuesday that, if passed, would prevent federal funding for the 2026 World Cup until the U.S. Soccer Federation "agrees to provide equitable pay" to the women and men's teams. The U.S. is co-hosting the 2026 event along with Canada and Mexico.
"The clear unequitable pay between the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams is unacceptable and I’m glad the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team's latest victory is causing public outcry," the senator said in a statement posted to his website.
"They are the best in the world and deserve to be paid accordingly. I’m encouraging everyone to call their Senator and Representatives to help us get this bill passed and finally create a level playing field for all."
Ongoing conversations about a pay gap started in the months leading up to the tournament, and led 28 members of the U.S. women's national team — including Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan — to take legal action over pay disparity and working conditions. Several members of the national team filed a lawsuit in March against the U.S. Soccer Federation, claiming there is institutionalized gender discrimination between the women's and the men's game.
The issue extends internationally, as well. The U.S. will share a pot of $4 million for winning the tournament, while France's men's squad earned $38 million for winning in Russia last year. At the next Women's World Cup in 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to increase the prize money to $60 million, yet at the men's competition in 2022, teams in Qatar will have a pot of $440 million.
During the Women's World Cup, the members who filed the lawsuit announced that they had agreed to mediation and will resolve the issues after they get back to the United States. France's tournament gave the players even more of a platform to speak out and demand a change from FIFA as Infantino was booed during the trophy presentation and chants of "equal pay" broke out.
“I think the conversation needs to move from, you know, are we worth it, or should we have equal pay, to what can we do now?” Rapinoe said on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday after returning to the U.S. “How can FIFA support the federations, how can federations support their players better, how can the leagues support their players better?
"I think there’s a part in this for everybody to do, and I think we’ve really left the old conversation behind us and now it’s time for that action."
