Very few activities are such that they give many feelings at the same time. I believe that sport is one such activity. It gives a thrill, excitement, joy, defeat, failure, sadness, distress, anticipation, and many other feelings at different points in time. Such a wide range of experience is what makes me like sports as the discourse community of my interest. I enjoy watching sports, and I would even love to be a part of some major sports.
Ever since I was a child, I watched my father and my uncles watch different games. They introduced me to various sports, like basketball, football, volleyball, etc. The way that they used to get happy whenever the team they supported scored a goal made me enjoy as well. Sitting in front of the television and watching a game of basketball or soccer was normal; it was considered family time. I remember that my father bought me a volleyball for my sixth birthday. It was one of the happiest days of my life, as I had wanted to buy one for so long. I used to avail my school breaks and play as much as I could. Sports energized me; they made me feel motivated to move forward.
As I grew up, I even considered sports as a choice for a profession. Specifically, I was interested in basketball. One of my friends was very serious about it, and he started to pursue basketball. I often went to watch his local matches. He inspired me as a person who decided to do what he thought he was best at.
When one is extremely involved in something, one keeps up to date with the latest issues or controversies. One of the latest controversies is affecting the world of American soccer. The issue involves disparity in salaries given to men and women. The best women players of the American Soccer team have filed a suit against U.S Soccer for wage discrimination (Das). U.S. Soccer is the body that governs the sport of soccer. They pay both men’s national team and women’s national team for representing America in different competitions. Despite the success and good name brought by the women’s team, they continued to be paid less, which has now become unacceptable for the capable women players.
The women players have submitted their complaint to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Das). In order to prove the amount of revenue that the women’s team brings to U.S Soccer, they have also filed the financial reports of the governing agency. The financial reports show growing revenue from women’s team. The women’s team has brought great honor to America by winning World Cups and Olympic championships.
When I first heard of this issue, I was shocked. This is because wage discrimination is an issue that should not be tolerated, especially where the women’s team is performing equally, or even better than the men’s team. This is a problem that is often faced by women in different professions. It is also true that women have to face several issues when they choose such professions. To not properly reward them is not fair to them.
Once, I was discussing this point with my friends. All of them were of the opinion that it is now time that this issue is resolved. There should be no question as to whether wage discrimination is acceptable or not. Moreover, if wage discrimination is justified in this case, it can be justified in any other case. America is a developed country and if such problem continues to happen in such a country, then what can we expected for the developing or the underdeveloped countries.
Another very important aspect to the filing of this suit is that the players have now chosen to speak in public. This is a very big step forward, as this is also serving an educational purpose. They are also gathering support through this effort. When I discussed this with my mother, she said that a lot had improved from her time, but even in her opinion, such huge cases need to be dealt with wisely in order to set a good example. Also, in her opinion, this is a very crucial time as women are extremely active in every field nowadays and to properly encourage them, it is necessary to reward them fairly.
At the end of the day, this sports issue extends to every profession or every field of life. To be rewarded as per the efforts and not as per gender is a point that needs to be made an example. Therefore, I expect a decision in favor of the women team players. I also expect that all other sports shall follow the same example and avoid wage discrimination. If we want the best representation from America, we need to make sure that our players do not feel like they are unfairly treated. We need to appropriately motivate them in order to make sure that they perform the best and keep bringing honor to the country.
Work Cited
Das, Andrew. “Top Female Players Accuse U.S. Soccer of Wage Discrimination.” NYTimes. The New York Times Company, 31 March 2016. Web. 23 Jan. 2017.
