Equal pay debate erupts at Women’s World Cup after US team’s record-breaking win

The United States' national football team's record-breaking win at the Women's World Cup has sparked a heated discussion about gender pay inequality.

On Tuesday evening, the US women's national football side thrashed Thailand 13-0 at the tournament in France.

Their victory marked the biggest winning margin in World Cup history, across both the men's and women's tournaments.

The achievement prompted several Twitter users to question why USA's national female footballers are paid less than the country's male footballers, despite the team having won three Women's World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals, among other accolades.

"Here's an idea: If you win 13-0 – the most goals for a single game in World Cup history – you should be paid at least equally to the men's team," tweeted US Democrat presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand.

"Guys they've now scored more than the men have during their past THREE World Cups #USWNT #EqualPay," another person pointed out.

Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds tweeted: "13 goals = 13 more reasons women deserve equal pay in the workplace."

Meanwhile, some people argued that the women's team should be paid more than the men's, considering the extent of their achievements.

"How many World Cup goals does the US women's team need to score to get equal pay?" someone tweeted.

"Equal to the men's team that didn't qualify for the tournament," they added.

In 2016, five members of the USA women's national football team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation with regards to wage discrimination.

The lawsuit stated that despite generating almost $20m (£15.71m) more revenue in 2015 than the men's team, the women earned a quarter of the men's salaries.

In March this year, 28 members of the USA women's football team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit with the US Soccer Federation.

"Despite the fact that these female and male players are called upon to perform the same job responsibilities on their teams and participate in international competitions for their single common employer, the USSF, the female players have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts," the lawsuit reads.

"This is true even though their performance has been superior to that of the male players – with the female players, in contrast to male players, becoming world champions."

While the USA women's football team were praised for their performance against Thailand on Tuesday evening, they were also criticised by some for the way they conducted themselves while celebrating their win.

Former Canadian international footballer Kaylyn Kyle said she was "disgusted" and "embarrassed" by some of the players' overly enthusiastic reactions to their goals, arguing that they could have toned their celebrations down a bit.

"They're the number one team in the world and for me, I'm disgusted honestly," Kyle told TSN, Canada's Women's World Cup broadcaster.

Fellow former Canadian international Clare Rustad said she believes the team "could have won with some humility and grace".

"Celebrating goals later in the game like this is just completely unnecessary. What is this?" Rustad stated.

For the latest news on the 2019 Women's World Cup, click here.