Media advisory: Soccer complaint draws attention to gender wage gap, researcher says

LAWRENCE — A wage-discrimination complaint by U.S. women's national soccer team members could help draw more attention to the gender wage gap and improve pay of elite female athletes, a University of Kansas researcher said.

Several members of the 2015 World Cup championship team filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging they are paid between 28 percent and 62 percent less than men's national team players, even though they have had more success on the field.

KU professors who study the wage differences by gender are available to discuss the issues surrounding the complaint.

Donna Ginther, professor of economics, has published numerous journal articles in her career, including her recent work on how math education for female students at an earlier age could help increase the number of women working in STEM fields. She also directs KU's Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy at the Institute for Policy & Social Research.

Ginther said charges of wage-discrimination are often dismissed on the basis of productivity difference. However, she said in this case the women's soccer team can point to the team's victories when compared with the men's team and that its World Cup championship match last year drew the best TV rating in the U.S. of any soccer game plus more viewers than other men's sporting events, including the NBA Finals and World Series, according to CNN.

"This case has the potential to draw significant attention to the gender wage gap and improve the pay of elite female athletes," she said.

Ben Eggleston, associate professor of philosophy, researches and teaches ethics and political philosophy. He recently edited The Cambridge Companion to Utilitarianism and can speak about wage decisions in the context of utilitarianism, which is the theory based on the maximization of overall well being, for large-scale policy decisions.

To arrange an interview with Ginther or Eggleston, contact George Diepenbrock at 785-864-8853 or gdiepenbrock@ku.edu.