Women athletes made some strides in terms of pay equity after FIFA announced that this year's World Cup prize money will exceed $150 million — but it still lags far behind the men's tournament.
The raise marks a 300 percent increase from the previous tourney in 2019 when the winners took home just $30 million. It's also 10 times the amount paid out in 2015.
Still, the pay gap between men and women soccer players remains wide. In last year's men's World Cup in Qatar, the prize stood at $440 million. FIFA stated that it is aiming to have pay parity by 2027.
"FIFA is stepping up not just with words but with actions. Unfortunately this is not the case of everyone across the industry," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, noting the continued discrepancy in payments from broadcasting and advertising partners, according to Barron's. "Offer us 20 percent less, or 50 percent less, but not 100 percent less. Women deserve much, much more than that, and we are here to fight for them and with them, but we need to fight together."
The announcement came just weeks after the U.S. Soccer Federation settled a lawsuit filed by the U.S. women's national team for $24 million on the basis of pay inequity. Last year the organization also established a collective bargaining process involving both the men's and women's national teams to pool and equally divide prize money.
Less than five weeks after the conference announced it would push football and other fall sports to spring because of the pandemic, the conference changed course.
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