Megan Rapinoe takes the battle for equal pay to Congress

Brut America

"You want full stadiums? We filled them."   U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe calls out the NCAA tournament and other gender disparities in women's sports on #EqualPayDay.

Transcript

00:00And I feel like, honestly, we've done everything.

00:01You want stadiums filled, we've filled them.

00:03You want role models for your kids, for your boys

00:06and your girls and your little trans kids, we have that.

00:09You want us to be respectful.

00:11You want us to perform on the world stage.

00:13You want us to take the stars and stripes

00:15and the red, white, and blue across the entire globe

00:17and represent America in the best way possible.

00:20We've done all of that, and simply,

00:23there's no reason why we're underpaid

00:26for the exception of gender.

00:28We put in just as much work.

00:38We train just as hard.

00:40You know, we compete to bring trophies back

00:43to the United States, bring gold medals back

00:45to the United States.

00:47We do our jobs and do it in the best way that we possibly can.

00:51And for all of us who work so hard and see, you know,

00:56how hard the men's teams work and see how hard our teams work

00:59and know that that's equal, it's just unacceptable

01:03that we're still fighting for equal pay.

01:17It's just absolutely unacceptable, you know,

01:20to say that you value your student-athletes

01:25and to say that, you know,

01:26this is the most important time of the year.

01:28We all know March Madness is very exciting.

01:31Probably everyone's brackets are blown up

01:33at this point with a few upsets.

01:34But, you know, to have your women's players

01:37or people who play on women's teams

01:39show up for one rack of dumbbells

01:41is just completely unacceptable.

01:43Someone, at some point, thought to themselves that was okay.

01:47You just simply have to do better.

01:48And even the new weight room

01:50that the women's team has is still unacceptable.

01:53It's not to the standard needed to perform at that level,

01:56and it's certainly not to the standard of equal

01:58that the men have.

01:59With a lack of proper investment,

02:02we don't really know the real potential of women's sports.

02:05What we know is how successful women's sports

02:07have been in the face of discrimination,

02:09in the face of gender disparity,

02:11in the face of a lack of investment

02:13on virtually every single level in comparison to men.

02:17So, for me, it goes much deeper

02:19than just what's hitting my bank account,

02:22but it's about investing resources into the team

02:25and into the business of the team

02:28so the next generation can actually fully realize

02:30their potential as a sport.

02:40We've realized that, yes, we're fighting for ourselves,

02:43and, yes, you know, we have our outstanding lawsuit

02:47with the U.S. Federation, but we're with everyone.

02:51We're with so many women across the country.

02:53We are with so many women

02:55who aren't able to be in this committee hearing,

02:58who aren't able to get the ear of the media,

03:00who do not have the bright lights

03:02and the cameras on them all the time.

03:04We are looking to carry this torch for so many other women.

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