Rep. Huffman Joins More Than 100 Members of Congress in Supporting the U.S. Women Soccer Players Filing an EEOC Complaint

April 06, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02) today joined Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and a bipartisan group of 110 Members of the House of Representatives in writing to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to support the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team filing a federal complaint. Recently, five soccer players accused the U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination, citing the fact that they earn as little as 40 percent of what players on the U.S. Men’s National Team earn.

“Women make up half the workforce, and are two-thirds of primary or co-breadwinners in America. Yet, after more than five decades after the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a woman still makes only 79 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by a man,” Members wrote in the letter. “That gap is even wider for women of color. Compared to white men, African American women are paid 60 cents, Native American women are paid 59 cents, and Hispanic Women are paid 55 cents.”

“Paying people fairly for the work they do shouldn't be dependent on their gender, race or ethnicity. By acting for women now, and ensuring they get paid the same as men for the same work, we can give them, their families and our entire economy the tools to recover and thrive,” the letter concludes.

The U.S. Women’s National Team is world renowned. Last year, the team produced nearly $20 million in revenues and secured a World Cup victory. In the process, the team broke television rating records, delivering 25.4 million viewers in the final match alone, as compared to the men's record of 18.2 million in 2014. The facts make it clear that any argument that the wage discrimination is based on anything other than gender discrimination has no basis.

Congressman Huffman has worked for many years to combat gender discrimination in athletics and as an attorney he even won a successful lawsuit against the California State University system, forcing it to comply with Title IX by equalizing men’s and women’s athletic opportunities. You can read more about this work here.

The full letter is available here.

###