Professional male soccer players are statistically paid significantly more than their female counterparts. What would you do if you were playing soccer professionally and weren’t paid as much as the opposite gender? Everyone deserves equal pay, no matter their gender. Awareness of the wage gap in soccer is not extensive. I aim here to educate you on the unfair wage gap in professional soccer.

Pay wage is influenced by also by how many people attend the game and men have a bigger audience than the women. Research shows that the average attendance for a MLS game for men is about 21,574 people, while women’s matches have an average attendance of around 5,046.

Personally, I was surprised to find out that there was fifteen thousand more people attending male soccer games than the female. This difference is enormous.

Another problem to this situation is the pay from clubs. A soccer club is the organization or team for which the athletes play. For example, Michael Bradley, a professional soccer player in the MLS, is paid $6 million USD from his club. While the maximum pay for a woman is $126k.
Clubs or teams will pay more dependent on game performance or the value of a particular player. Athletes may get bonuses for scoring goals, assists, or being the man of the match. Those bonuses go a long way and impact the pay greatly.

Based on the research I have done and my experience with soccer, I believe both genders should be paid equally and dependent on how they play. In 2018 there were two winners of a award that deems you best player of the world for that year. It’s called the Ballon D’or, or the golden ball. There is a male winner and a female winner. In 2018, Ada Hegeberg and Luka Modrić earned the award. This award it proves that women can play at the same level as men yet, they are still paid less.

Although my research focused on the wage gap in soccer, there is a epidemic of women being paid less than men in all areas of work. Women being paid less than men means they are not equal, and although this has been a historical problem across the world, it does not mean we have to accept it. There are ways to take action. The American Association of University Women offers many ways to take a stand. For example, take it upon yourself to say something on Twitter and raise awareness of the fight to close the wage gap. Every little thing helps in the fight for equal pay for all women across the world. The American Association of University Women also urges to empower the women in your own community. I, too, urge you to empower women.