Equal pay for work of equal value is a misunderstood concept

On March 8, 2019, the members of the United States women’s national soccer team marked International Women’s Day by filing a class-action suit against their employer, the United States Soccer Federation, alleging gender differences in pay and employment conditions. In spite of the Equal Pay Act 1963 that prohibits gender-based wage discrimination in the United States, the women’s team receives US$99,000 (RM408,919) while the men’s team is paid a whopping US$263,320 (RM1,087,643) for the 20 games each team plays in one year.

Not too long before, in 2017, the women’s soccer team’s counterparts in ice hockey fought with their federation ahead of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships, threatening to boycott the tournament over "fair wages and equitable support”. USA Hockey ended up agreeing to a landmark agreement that improved the team’s annual compensation to about US$70,000 (RM289,000) per player.