The Australian Women's National Team Scored A Major Win For Equal Pay

By Lauren Rearick


It’s 2019, and frustratingly, several top female athletes still aren’t paid as much as their male counterparts. As of today, that’s no longer the case for Australia's national women’s soccer team.


On Tuesday (November 5), the Football Federation Australia (FFA) announced the end to an existing pay gap between the male and female soccer players who play on the national teams, CNN reported. By means of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between FFA and Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), the Australian men’s National Football Team (known because the Caltex Socceroos) and the Australian Women’s National Football Team (known because the Westfield Matildas) will receive equal pay and an equal share of commercial revenue; players receive commercial income for participating in public appearances and events.


The four-year agreement will expire in 2023, which ensures that the increased pay advantages the females throughout the 2022 World Cup, Huffington Post reported. Previously, the Matildas acquired 30 percent of the prize cash if the team qualified for the World Cup. As segment of the CBA, girls right now receive 40 percent of the prize cash for qualifying, and 50 percent of the prize cash if they are eliminated throughout knockout rounds, Huffington Post explained. Other advantages including a upgraded parental leave policy and access to a higher level of coaching support are included in the CBA.


Elise Kellond-Knight, midfielder for the Westfield Matildas, touched on what the CBA intended for the team in a statement. “We routinely wanted to be treated equal, have the ability to step out onto that pitch with equal possibility and the equal facilities the boys have been exposed to. Right now we will totally included,” she said.


Gender-based pay disparity isn’t exclusive to the sports industry, although the supply derived renewed attention after the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Ahead of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, 28 players of the United States women’s national team (USWNT) filed suit against U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination, ESPN reported. All 28 signees sought equal pay, and alleged that for every $13,166 a gentleman made playing a sole friendly soccer match, ladies made $4,950 — this, despite the fact that the USWNT wins way more frequently than the men's team does. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for May 2020.


and it also seems members of the world champion USWNT are paying attention to Australia: On Instagram Stories, Megan Rapinoe posted a screen capture of the news, tagged the U.S. Soccer Instagram, and called the Matildas world leaders.