Last week, President Joe Biden signed the Cantwell-Capito Equal Pay for Team USA Act into law, which ensures all athletes representing the U.S. in international competition, such as the Olympics, Paralympics and World Cup, receive equal pay and benefits, regardless of gender.
“From here on out, when women win, they no longer have to worry that a men’s team will still somehow be paid more,” said Senator Maria Cantwell, who with Senator Shelley Moore Capito first introduced this legislation in 2019 in response to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) suing for equal pay. They reintroduced the bipartisan bill in 2022 before the 50th anniversary of Title IX. The bill passed the Senate on December 8 and the House of Representatives on December 21. Biden signed the bill on January 5.
“This law requires that the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and sports’ governing bodies provide the same pay, medical care, travel accommodations and coverage of expenses to U.S. athletes regardless of gender or risk decertification,” said Cantwell.
Thebill applies to 50 sports’ national governing bodies, including USA Volleyball and U.S. Soccer. USA Basketball settled this matter years ago, most notably after the U.S. women’s team at the 1992 Olympics was treated like the poor relation of the Dream Team. Today, U.S. women’s national basketball teams receive the same accommodations as men’s teams.
The driver behind this bill was the USWNT’s lawsuit. Despite the fact that the women’s national soccer team had won multiple World Cups and Olympic medals while U.S. men’s soccer teams often did not even qualify for the Olympics, the women were subjected to extensive sexist rhetoric.
“When American athletes compete on the world stage, they represent our great nation,” said Capito. “Therefore, it’s only right that female athletes receive the same kind of pay and benefits as their male counterparts, and this legislation does just that.”
Passage of this equal pay bill may well be cause for celebration, but it does not mean there is equality in sports. Many athletic departments of U.S. colleges and universities are not in Title IX compliance. Last month, at a panel discussion at the Intercollegiate Athletics Forum addressing change and transformation in college sports, panelists refused to endorse the idea that the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament should have its television rights handled separately as opposed to bundled with other sports as it is currently.
Gender bias in sports remains alive and well, but because this bill received bipartisan support, there is hope that the tide is turning.