American soccer player Megan Rapinoe joined President Joe Biden on Wednesday to denounce the gender pay gap in her country, which forces American women to work between 15 and 22 months to earn the same as men earn in a year.
“I have been devalued, undervalued and disdained because I am a woman … I continue to earn less than men who do the same work as me,” Rapinoe said during an event at the White House.
The Olympic and world champion with the United States soccer team visited the White House accompanied by Margaret Purce, forward at Sky Blue FC, to commemorate Equal Pay Day, which has been celebrated since 1996 to draw attention to the gender gap.
“No one would expect a flower to thrive without water, and yet our society expects to see women in sports flourish, who have been denied water and sunlight,” Purce said.
Rapinoe and her teammates on the women's national team sued the United States Soccer Federation for pay discrimination in 2019, but a California federal judge ruled against them last year.
The wage gap between men and women in the United States translates into 18 cents less for them for every dollar paid in salaries or fees and 45 cents in the case of Latinas, who suffer the most from this disparity.
Equal Pay Day is celebrated in March to mark the extent to which white women have to work to earn the same as men of their race throughout the previous year, while black, indigenous and Latina women have to wait until August, September and October, respectively, to reach that level.
“This (women's soccer) team is living proof that you can be the best at what you do, but you still have to fight for equal pay,” Biden said during the event.
“My Government is going to fight so that equal pay becomes a reality for all women,” who still earn less than men in “more than 90% of professions,” said the president.
The first lady, Jill Biden, revealed during the event that she herself suffered salary discrimination during her first job as a teacher in 1975, when she learned that she was only being paid “75% of what a man hired to do the same I work at the same time ”as her.
“It wasn't just about the money, as unfair as it was. It was the lack of respect, the discrimination. Why was my job worth less? ”Asked Jill Biden.
“This is something personal for me, because it is personal for all women (…) And now that the pandemic is widening the wage and wealth gap between men and women, it is urgent” to correct it, added the first lady.
To correct it, the president asked Congress to pass a bill called Justice on Payroll, which would reform key factors that contribute to wage discrimination, in addition to promoting paid family and medical leave and making child care more affordable.