Last year the United States National Women’s soccer team blew out all competition during the World Cup. The team represents all the hard work women had to endure to arrive at this success. From the beginning with Mia Hamm leading the Women’s National team to a World Cup victory and arrived home to no more than 20 people ready to congratulate them. Women’s soccer has come a long way but is there still progress to be made?

The women’s national team is known for success and their victory. The womens World Cup this past year brought in more viewers than the World Series or the NBA finals. The men, however, finished 11th in the World Cup and did not get its bid for the Summer Olympics. Not only do the women have more viewers, the team also created approximately 20 million more dollars in revenue than the men’s team. With all this said, would you believe me if I said that the women’s team makes about 25 percent of what the men’s team makes?

A male professional soccer player can earn up to $17,625 for a match and will make no less than $5,000, win or lose. A female professional soccer player can earn the maximum of $4,950 even if they win every game. Also, a woman can only get paid for the 20 exhibition games, no games beyond that, whereas the men get paid for every game. The men’s team received 9 million dollars for losing in round 16 while the women received 2 million dollars…. For winning the World Cup.

So, whether you watch soccer or support gender equality, the numbers do not lie. The United States Women’s National team has started the Equal Play Equal Pay campaign and are fighting the fight that has been put off for years. It’s time for a change and players like Alex Morgan and Megan Rampone are ready to see it.