Secret Gives $529,000 to U.S. Women’s Soccer Team in Response to Wage Inequality

Secret deodorant just made a major move toward wage equality.

Hot on the heels of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s Women’s World Cup win, the Proctor & Gamble owned company just stepped up and donated a staggering $529,000 to the champions’ fight for equal pay.

ICYMI: Fans everywhere were outraged to learn that Alex Morgan, Meghan Rapinoe and the rest of the U.S. women’s team were set to earn about $250,000 each for winning the 2019 World Cup. Although it seems like a nice chunk of change, the award money given to the U.S. men’s team (had they actually won the World Cup) would have been staggeringly higher. For reference, research conducted by The Washington Post concluded that “a player on the women’s team would earn $28,333 less, or about 89% of the compensation of a similarly situated male player.”  

This troubling wage inequality has sparked uproar and players from the U.S. women’s team even filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation because they’re paid less than members of the men’s national team.  

The wage gap inspired Secret to do something. The brand announced they’re giving each of the 23 players on the U.S. World Cup’s roster $23,000 in a full-page ad in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. The ad explained that the soccer team “just made history. But they have always deserved equal pay.”

It went on to say, “After all the toasts, cheers, parades and awards subside, the issue remains. Inequality is about more than pay and players; it’s about value. Let’s take this moment of celebration to propel women’s sports forward. We urge the U.S. Soccer Federation to be a beacon of strength and end gender pay inequality once and for all, for all players.”

We’re cheering on the U.S. women’s soccer team in their fight for equal pay and commending Secret on helping them get one step closer to an equal playing (paying?) field.