The United States women’s national soccer team icon Megan Rapinoe lambasted the Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green for his recent comments on how he has grown tired of women athletes complaining about the pay gap between men and women in sports. 

At Team USA’s media summit, Rapinoe told reporters that despite Green having all the resources and abilities to be educated on the subject, he was misguided. She also hits back at Green during a zoom call with reporters. 

That’s frustrating that’s the take you have. You obviously showed your whole a** in not even understanding what we all talk about all the time.

The Golden State Warriors’ power forward had claimed that women athletes should prioritize growing their game over demanding better salaries. However, Rapinoe corrected Green by noting that the equality she stood for was more than just about compensation. 

However, the NBA player responded to Rapinoe’s criticisms and clarified that they wanted the same outcome for athletes, but their method is different. 

United States Women’s National Team’s (USWNT) Equal-Pay Battle

In 2016, Rapinoe was one of five prominent players who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging wage discrimination. Although it resulted in increases in compensation and better benefits, the US women soccer players argued that they still received less pay despite being required to play and win more matches than the men’s team. 

On July 7, 2019, the stadium was alive at the USWTN’s World Cup win, but one could also faintly hear the stadium erupt in chants of “equal pay.” Few months before this match, Rapinoe and 27 other players in the US team sued the United States Soccer Federation for “institutionalized gender discrimination.”

According to Rapinoe, Members of the men’s soccer team are often compensated significantly more than their female counterparts despite the fact that the women’s team has won four World Cup tournaments while the men’s team has far fewer accolades. Rapinoe opines that the U.S. pay equity is due for a transformation. 

On U.S. Equal Pay Day this year, Rapinoe appeared at the White House and testified before Congress. She declared while on a stage with President Biden and first lady Jill Biden that she had been devalued and disrespected because of her gender despite her enormous success with the team. 

The president urged Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a commitment to address the gender pay gap in the United States by holding companies accountable for pay disparities, and signed a proclamation for National Equal Pay Day.

A woman loses hundreds of thousands over a lifetime because of the gender and racial wage gap. Equal Pay Day is commemorated in the U.S. and marks how far into this year women must work to earn what the average man made in the previous year.