USWNT Is Set To Wear T-Shirts And Temporary Tattoos Protesting Unequal Pay Before Their Game Saturday

YardBarker- The US Women’s national soccer team is preparing to get as vocal as possible about their mission to receive equal pay and treatment as the Men’s national team.

According to the New York Times, ahead of their game Saturday against South Africa in Chicago, the USWNT plans to wear T-shirts endorsing an “Equal Play Equal Pay” message. The players union is also creating temporary tattoos with the same slogan for the players to wear on the field during their matches.

Due to the terms of their collective bargaining agreement with the US Soccer Federation, the team is not allowed to strike. But they will have a chance to renegotiate terms when the current agreement ends after the year. The Olympics also frown upon athletes using the Games as an opportunity to make social and political commentary, but the women are looking to use their platform leading up to Rio to their advantage.



Well, would you take a look at that, it's "I Can't Breathe" Part II. Perfect timing too if you ask me. Our country is going straight to hell in a racially segregated hand basket, and the women's soccer team that represents us is stealing the very same form of propaganda that African Americans used to plead for fair treatment from law enforcement.  At least they are using it to fight against an injustice that's just as important - equal pay for female athletes.

​Sure, one of those causes has it's own amendment in the Constitution, and the other goes against every business principle known to (wo)man, but hey - it's pretty hard to argue against the semantics of the statement "all forms of equality were created equal". Shouldn't matter that women's soccer is far less profitable than men's soccer. It's not like they are two completely different organizational entities or something. It's kind of like revenue sharing in professional sports. Except instead of giving small market teams the chance to compete, it's essentially giving a less successful institution - that's financially stable enough to contend in it's own league - more money for the hell of it . Can't argue with that line of thinking. Plus, nothing draw eyeballs to a game that no one has any interest in watching quite like introducing a socioeconomic message into the warmup. What kind of idiot would watch sports to get away from a largely fabricated problem plaguing society when it's so much more entertaining to have it shoved in your face by novelty t-shirts during your free time?

If these girls genuinely thought they were being marginalized financially and felt they deserved a boost in pay despite a flatline in ratings then they would get actual tattoos. Temporary tattoos equal temporary interest, and temporary interest doesn't equal change. Unfortunately, they can just ask these guys...