The House of Representatives passed a bill that guarantees equal pay for American women competing in international events, a law that grew out of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s long battle to be paid as much as the men’s team .
The Team USA Equal Pay Act, passed Wednesday night, will require all athletes representing the United States in global competitions to receive equal pay and benefits in their sport, regardless of gender. It covers more than 50 U.S. national sports and requires oversight by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
The bill had already passed the Senate with unanimous support. He is now headed to President Joe Biden’s office.
In a speech Wednesday evening on the Senate floor, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.), called the bill an appropriate means to close out 2022. , which marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark law that promoted gender equality in sports.
“I… want to thank heroes like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, who filed suit against US Soccer,” Cantwell said of the American soccer stars, whose 2019 World Cup victory served as a canvas background at the start of the effort. “US women’s soccer led the charge after winning the World Cup and made everyone aware that female athletes deserve equal pay.”
Bill stems from federal gender discrimination lawsuit US women filed suit against US Soccer in 2019. Earlier this year, women signed a new collective agreement which provided for identical pay structures for men and women and a fair distribution of World Cup prize money.
Over the past decade, most Olympic sports in the United States have met USOPC standards for equal pay. But there remained inequalities between men’s and women’s soccer teams – whose role in international events, like the World Cup, led to unequal pay structures and different controls – which led lawmakers to seek to enshrine these standards in the law.
“By sending this bill to the President, both chambers have sent a clear message that this is the standard for all national teams in all sports and it highlights the importance of working with our athletes to achieve equal pay, including equalization of international bonuses,” he said. Football President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement announcing the bill’s passage.
