今年7月,法國里昂一個炎熱的夜晚,美國女子國家足球隊打敗了荷蘭隊,連續(xù)第二年贏得世界杯。然而就在隊員們佇立于球場上等待頒獎時,觀眾席上突然喊起了口號。站在球場中的球員克里斯汀·普雷斯和阿萊克斯·摩根回憶道,她們根本不知道人群都在喊什么。直到數(shù)天后球隊凱旋回歸紐約市時,她們又聽到了同樣的口號,這才明白當時觀眾們所吶喊的內(nèi)容:“同酬!同酬!”擔任前鋒的普雷斯對《財富》雜志說:“我都哭了,太讓我驚訝了?!?/p> 2015世界杯那年,該團隊亦獲得了聲勢浩大的迎接,這些吶喊聲并非自此之后出現(xiàn)的唯一變化。那時,該團隊還沒有起訴其雇主美國足球聯(lián)盟,指控其違反同酬和民權(quán)法。(她們在2016年向同等就業(yè)機會委員會提交了投訴,并于今年3月向加州法院提起訴訟。)其文化背景也發(fā)生了深遠變化。2017女性游行打破了美國歷史記錄,成為了最大的游行活動,也再次引發(fā)了社會對性別平等、女權(quán)和性騷擾等話題的迫切關(guān)注。女子足球隊聯(lián)合隊長、前鋒梅根·拉皮諾埃稱:“這一次,我們更為深刻地意識到,自己已經(jīng)加入了一場更為宏大的運動。在回家后的前幾天,我覺得‘這場運動比我想象的要大得多。’” 美國教育法第九篇修正案成為美國法律已經(jīng)過去了47個年頭,它旨在禁止學校中的性別歧視,并要求體育課程對男孩、女孩一視同仁。然而,女性職業(yè)體育仍然比男性落后不止一個時代,女子賽隊更少,而且通常觀眾群體也更少。同酬十分少見,在足球和棒球等體育領(lǐng)域基本不存在。如今,體育領(lǐng)域出現(xiàn)了這一苗頭,而且運動員也紛紛聲援性別平等,這期間打頭陣的便是女子足球隊,而她們驕人的成績也為其帶來了國際關(guān)注(也在我們的年度榜單中贏得了特殊的地位)。 體育界的呼聲類似于娛樂行業(yè)出現(xiàn)的“#MeToo”運動。在這場運動中,披露性騷擾事件的女性演員也開始在臺前臺后呼吁同酬以及更大的話語權(quán)。德勤前任首席執(zhí)行官、國家女子籃球聯(lián)盟新理事凱茜·英吉爾波特說:“女子體育界迎來了一個好時期,我們的聯(lián)盟也呈現(xiàn)出良好的發(fā)展態(tài)勢,而且女性賦權(quán)運動也在如火如荼地開展當中?!眱纱筮\動的交匯也解釋了為什么Time’s Up組織會在今年夏天與女子足球隊合作發(fā)起一場資金籌集活動,該活動旨在幫助所有女性消除薪酬差距。Time’s Up是一家總部位于洛杉磯的組織,圍繞#MeToo運動而成立。拉皮諾埃在談?wù)揟ime’s Up時說:“我們在其中多少看到了自己的影子。” 起訴美國足聯(lián)的案件是首起職業(yè)體育隊起訴其雇主存在性別歧視的案件。美國足球界的不同之處在于,一家機構(gòu)同時是男足和女足的雇主,正因為如此,作為一個法律案件,它更能夠說明待遇的不公平性。與此同時,女足在球場上的成績和受歡迎程度也為其爭取經(jīng)濟支持提供了更好的說辭。女足表示,她們自2015年以來在盈利能力方面已經(jīng)超過了男子足球隊。例如,美國足聯(lián)預(yù)測,女子足球隊在2017財年會創(chuàng)造500萬美元的利潤,而男子足球隊會虧損100萬美元。然而,在美國足聯(lián)的薪酬構(gòu)架下,男球員的薪酬遠高于女球員。2014年,也就是美國男子足球隊上一次入圍世界杯時,他們在16強便遭到了淘汰,但借助各種名目的分紅,他們獲得的薪酬大約是2015年世界杯奪冠女球員的3倍。(美國足聯(lián)否認存在歧視行為,并在一份法庭文件中指出,因為男性和女性在國際上的“競爭環(huán)境存在巨大差異”,“無法對其相應(yīng)的成績和薪酬進行比較?!保吻颁h的聯(lián)合隊長摩根說:“似乎[這場官司]是女子足球隊一直以來注定要邁出的一步?!逼绽姿拐f:“打贏這場官司是我們在改變世界、讓世界變得更美好方面所能做的最重要的一件事情。” 盡管爭取同酬是一個長期斗爭,但女足已經(jīng)對其他體育賽事帶來了實質(zhì)性的影響,也激勵著其他女性提出了漲薪要求。今年,世界沖浪聯(lián)盟開始向男、女沖浪選手授予同等金額的獎金。在冰球界,數(shù)千名女性當前拒絕參加北美職業(yè)聯(lián)盟賽事,并要求獲得更好的薪酬和賽事標準。在因為薪酬爭議拒絕參加2017年世界冰球錦標賽之前,美國女子國家冰球隊的前鋒肯達爾·科因·斯卡菲爾德曾經(jīng)與女足隊員進行了商談??埔颉に箍ǚ茽柕禄貞浾f:“我們看著她們說:‘如果她們可以這樣做,我們也可以?!?/p> 美國女子籃球聯(lián)盟正在與球員商談一份新的合約。該聯(lián)盟的英吉爾伯特表示,她一直致力于改善女球員的薪酬和差旅待遇,但她也警告說:“人們需要改善聯(lián)盟的經(jīng)濟狀況,才能為球員提供更多的支持?!弊罱K她認為,女子體育項目的提升不僅僅會造福賽事本身,也會為吸納企業(yè)贊助資金(當前女子體育項目吸納的金額不到5%)創(chuàng)造更多的機會,同時還會激勵女性實現(xiàn)自我并發(fā)揮引領(lǐng)作用。 網(wǎng)球界的傳奇人物比利·簡·金的呼吁在數(shù)十年前幫助實現(xiàn)了網(wǎng)球的同酬。她十分理解當前的態(tài)勢。在1973年知名的“性別之戰(zhàn)”中擊敗了網(wǎng)球男星鮑比·雷格斯之后,金表示,自己聽說有女職員恨不得在第二天就向老板提出漲薪要求。她向《財富》雜志透露,“體育是一個能夠帶來變化的平臺。我們可以借此向平等邁進。”(財富中文網(wǎng)) 本文另一版本登載于《財富》雜志2019年10月刊,是“最具影響力的商界女性”的組文之一,標題為《第51名:獎金紛爭!美國女子足球隊》。 譯者:馮豐 審校:夏林 |
It was a hot July night in Lyon, France, and the U.S. women’s national soccer team had just defeated the Netherlands to win their second World Cup in a row. As the team waited on the field to accept their trophy, a chant erupted in the stands. In the din of the stadium, teammates Christen Press and Alex Morgan recall, the champs couldn’t make out the words. It wasn’t until the players rode their victory float through New York City a few days later that they heard the same chant and understood what the crowds were yelling: “Equal pay! Equal pay!” “I actually cried,” Press, who plays striker, tells Fortune. “I was so taken aback.” The chants weren’t the only thing that had changed since the last time the team earned a ticker-tape reception, after the 2015 cup. Back then, the team had not yet sued their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, for allegedly violating equal pay and civil rights laws. (They filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016 and filed suit in a California court this March.) The cultural context had also shifted profoundly. The 2017 women’s marches broke American records for the largest protests, catalyzing a freshly urgent societal conversation around gender equity, women’s rights, and sexual harassment. “This time around, we just understood so much more that we’re a part of this greater movement,” says Megan Rapinoe, the team’s cocaptain and forward. “Coming home the first couple of days, I was like, ‘Oh, this is so much bigger than I even thought.’?” It has been 47 years since Title IX became U.S. law, prohibiting gender discrimination in schools and requiring sports programs for girls to be equivalent to those for boys. But women’s professional sports are still generations behind men’s, with fewer teams and generally smaller audiences. Pay equity is rare—and virtually nonexistent in team sports like soccer and basketball. Now the field is experiencing a reckoning, as athletes speak up for gender equality—and the women’s soccer team, whose dominance has given them the world’s ear, are leading the charge (and earning a special spot on our annual list). The sports uprising is akin to the one the entertainment industry has confronted in the wake of #MeToo, as female actors who came forward about sexual assault began also campaigning for equal pay and better representation in front of and behind the camera. “There’s a moment in women’s sports, there’s momentum around our league, and there’s this movement around women’s empowerment,” says Cathy Engelbert, the former CEO of Deloitte and new commissioner of the WNBA. The convergence underscores why Time’s Up, the Hollywood-based organization created around #MeToo, partnered with the women’s soccer team this summer on a fundraising initiative aimed at helping all women close the wage gap. “We can sort of see ourselves in that,” Rapinoe says of Time’s Up. The lawsuit against USSF is the first known instance of a professional sports team suing its employer for gender discrimination. U.S. soccer is unusual in that the same organization employs both men’s and women’s teams—which makes it easier, as a legal matter, to demonstrate unequal treatment. The women’s on-field success and popularity, meanwhile, have made their case more viable by giving it an economic underpinning. Since 2015, they argue, they have outperformed the men financially: For example, USSF projected that the women’s team would generate a $5 million profit in fiscal 2017, while the men would lose $1 million. Still, the USSF’s pay structure awards substantially greater compensation to the men. In 2014, the last time the men’s team was in the World Cup, they were eliminated in the round of 16, but thanks to various bonuses, they allegedly received roughly triple what the women got for winning it all in 2015. (USSF has denied that it discriminates, saying in a court filing that because the men and women compete “in vastly different spheres” internationally, “no comparison can be made between their respective performance and compensation.”) “It seems like [the lawsuit] was a step that this team was always destined to make,” says cocaptain Morgan, who plays forward. Adds Press: “The most important thing we could do to change the world and make the world a better place is winning.” Already, the female soccer players have tangibly influenced other sports—inspiring other women to ask for better pay, even when equal pay is a long shot. This year, the World Surf League began awarding equal prize purses to men and women. In hockey, hundreds of women are currently refusing to play in North American pro leagues, demanding better compensation and playing standards. Kendall Coyne Schofield, who plays forward on the U.S. women’s national ice hockey team, consulted with women’s soccer players before deciding to boycott the 2017 hockey world championships amid a compensation dispute. “We looked at them and said, ‘If they can do it, we can do it,’?” Coyne Schofield recalls. At the WNBA, where the league is in the midst of negotiating a new contract with players, Engelbert says she’s committed to improving female players’ compensation and travel arrangements, though she cautions that “the economics of this league need to improve to support the players more.” Ultimately, she thinks elevating women’s sports will have benefits beyond just the game—by expanding opportunities for corporate sponsorship dollars (less than 5% of which goes to women’s sports today) as well as by inspiring women to achieve and lead. Billie Jean King, the tennis legend whose advocacy helped bring equal pay to her sport decades ago, understands that dynamic. After she defeated male star Bobby Riggs in the famed “Battle of the Sexes” match in 1973, King says, she heard from women who felt compelled to ask their bosses for a raise the next day. “Sports is a platform for change,” she tells Fortune. “We can help this drive toward equality.” A version of this article appears in the October 2019 issue of Fortune as part of the Most Powerful Women package with the headline “No. 51: Bonus Pick! U.S. Women’s National Team.” |