Even before these controversial proposals in March, which tried to defend the assertion that players from inside the national team were not doing the same job, the association, by its legal representation, made much the same point in previous registrations. It was not unique. The U.S. National Women`s Football Team is not alone in fighting with its equality association. In September, just two months after it became the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the World Cup, Jamaica`s women`s football team — Reggae Girlz — launched a « No Pay, No Play » campaign on social media and said it would not train or show up until its association pays players the money they were owed. The team was also frustrated with its treatment, including less than ideal routes. In 2016, the union had argued with the Federal Football League over the end of the collective bargaining agreement. On March 31, 2016, five members of the U.S. National Women`s Football Team filed an indictment with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing football players of making less money than men`s players. [25] The complaint was filed by Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan, who argued that, for no other reason, men earned more money than men. The submission cited figures from the USSF`s 2015 financial report, which showed that, despite a turnover of nearly $20 million this year, women generated nearly $20 million in revenue more than the men`s team, which received women about a quarter of what men earn.
[26] There is no doubt that the argument, as Steven A. Bank, a UCLA law professor, recently put it, is « an unqualified loser in the court of public opinion. » Since that decision, society`s attitude towards women`s sport has changed. But the story of the case is there, and the USSF has long argued that the men`s team generates more revenue and better television ratings than the women`s team. « There may be a broader objective where trials are just a tactic in a broader fight, » Spiggle said. « Even if the big claims have been de-factoized, the fact that this is ongoing is a victory for the women`s team, because it will remain in public as long as it continues and until there is a trial. And that could put them in a better negotiating position in other collective agreements. But the Women`s Union also negotiated its CBA as part of a society with a history of gender inequality. Decades in which women have not been admitted or encouraged to play sport have contributed to a reality today, where women`s professional sport is still trying to catch up.