“Equal pay is a family issue. Women make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force and are a growing number of breadwinners, people who earn money to support a family, in their families. More women are also working in positions and fields that have been traditionally occupied by men. When women are not paid fairly, not only do they suffer, but so do their families.” explains Whitehouse.gov.

Although the Equal Pay Act of 1963, consisting of men and women in the same job to be given equal pay for equal work, was passed, a “pay gap” still stands.

A typical woman working full-time all year in the U.S. earns only seventy-seven cents, meanwhile a man working full-time earns one dollar. The “pay gap” affects African-American women, earning sixty-four cents, and Latina women, earning only fifty-six cents.

For example, The women’s U.S. soccer team.

They have been the most successful, and much more profitable than the male U.S team.  

“The pay disparities exist even though the U.S. women have been successful not only on the field, but also at the ticket booth and in terms of television ratings. The team’s 5-2 win over Japan in last year’s World Cup final was the second-most-watched soccer match in U.S. television history, with 25.4 million viewers. That’s also the largest television audience for a game involving a U.S. national team; the biggest audience for a U.S. men’s game was 18.2 million for a USA-Portugal World Cup match in 2014.” explains Landon Donovan in the Washington Post.

The U.S. national women’s soccer team gets paid twenty million dollars, while the men’s national U.S. team gets paid four times as much in salary and bonuses.

U.S. women’s co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, also goalie Hope Solo, forward Alex Morgan and midfielder Megan Rapinoe, all filed a wage discrimination complaint with EEOC (U.S. Soccer Federation to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

“We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the USMNT(U.S. Men’s National Team) get paid more to just show up, than we get paid to win major championships.” argues Hope Solo.

“Pay discrimination is a real and persistent problem that continues to shortchange American women and their families.” states the Whitehouse.gov.