If you’re like me, you spent all of June watching the Women’s World Cup. Having played soccer for many years, I always look forward to the summers when it’s a World Cup year — especially the Women’s World Cup. As a young girl learning to love a sport dominated by men, I looked up to the few notable names in women’s soccer I heard: Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach. Nothing beats the feeling of witnessing these superheroines of soccer do what they do best while the whole world watches. Since 2014 was the Men’s World Cup, I was able to witness soccer history in the making two summers in a row.
After following both U.S. teams closely in back-to-back World Cups, I realized that women’s soccer is taken far less seriously than men’s soccer. The Women’s World Cup final was the most-watched soccer event in U.S. television history, as 20.3 million Americans saw our women win. While this is an impressive feat — and a slap in the face to anyone who claims women’s sports aren’t as exciting as men’s — I’m still not satisfied.
There is a serious income disparity between male and female athletes in soccer, among other sports. Until the National Women’s Soccer League can draw crowds like the MLS, Clint Dempsey, a player on the U.S. men’s national team will be able to make $8 million a year for the Seattle Sounders while Abby Wambach makes only $190,000 for the Western New York Flash. Likewise, prize monies in FIFA’s biggest competition are completely lopsided — the German men’s national team won a $35 million bonus for their victory in 2014 while the U.S. women’s national team was only rewarded with a $2 million bonus.
Women had to play on turf while the men got to play on grass fields; this was a big blow to female athletes. According to The American Academy of Neurology, “concussions appear to be more prevalent for … athletes playing on artificial turf.” Not to mention the fact that “women athletes appear more likely to experience concussions in soccer … [and] overheating is also a health concern.” Playing an already rough sport in these conditions can be dangerous.
Even though female athletes have made major strides in soccer compared to the last time the U.S. women’s team won the World Cup in 1999, we still have a long way to go before women are treated as equals on and off the field. This is apparent because there wasn’t as much hype or interest in the Women’s World Cup until the very end when our women were in the finals.
For example, all throughout the Men’s World Cup, there was an ongoing Snapchat feed in Brazil where fans and players uploaded pictures and videos of the games and celebrations. The women got almost nothing. Throughout this past World Cup, there was only one live feed from Canada during the final match. Buzzfeed had a ball during the 2014 World Cup with almost 100 articles and quizzes on the different international teams ranging in anything from “How Much Do You Know About The World Cup?” to “The Definitive Ranking of the Best Bulges in this World Cup.” There were around 50 articles and quizzes for the women’s team.
Buzzfeed is one of the biggest proponents of equality among the sexes. Their writers and patrons cry sexism every chance they get, yet they were the ones perpetuating it this summer. On top of that, Spotify added a section of playlists specifically for the Men’s World Cup with songs written just for the tournament and what the players were listening to; there was nothing for the women. Why couldn’t the same hype and momentum be built for the women as for the men?
Until we can achieve substantial equality, it’s about the little victories that reside in uplifting all young athletes to be the best they can be — regardless of their gender.