Alex Morgan explains why she fought for equal pay
USWNT veteran Alex Morgan talks to USA TODAY Sports about the fight for equal pay and explains her hopes for her daughter’s future.
Sport in Seriousness
Alex Morgan is one of those rare athletes whose impact on the field was as great as it was off it.
Maybe even bigger.
Morgan, who announced her retirement on Thursday, leaves the game as a two-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist. She is the fifth-leading goalscorer for the U.S. women’s national team all-time, with only five of her 123 goals coming from penalties. She was runner-up twice in FIFA Women’s Player of the Year voting and third once more, and her six appearances on the FIFPRO World Team are the second most in history.
More importantly, Morgan leaves women’s sports in a much better place than when she began her career. She was instrumental in the USWNT’s fight for equal pay and played a significant role in the NWSL’s first contract. The league’s first anti-harassment policy was a direct result of her efforts. She helped spark the current investment boom in women’s sports and pushed sponsors and potential owners to recognize the sport’s growth potential.
She knew that her star status gave her influence and she used it for the good of the community.
“Charlie came to me the other day and said she wants to be a soccer player when she grows up,” Morgan said in her retirement announcement, referring to her young daughter. “That just made me so incredibly proud. Not because I want her to be a soccer player when she grows up, but because there is a path that even a four-year-old can see right now.”
“We’re changing lives,” Morgan said, her voice choked. “Our impact on the next generation is irreversible and I’m proud to have played a part in making that possible and moving the game forward and getting it to a place that I’m so happy and proud of.”
Morgan, now 35, had no intention of causing trouble. She wanted to play soccer, a sport she has always loved. But soon after joining the USWNT, she was cast as America’s Sweetheart, taking on the role once held by Mia Hamm.
Football fans loved her ruthlessness – more than a few opposing goalkeepers still tremble at the memory of Morgan’s tackle on them – and those who didn’t know much about the game or care much about it were fascinated by her healthy looks. At a time when tennis players and Olympians were the only female athletes to have any commercial success, Morgan was an exception.
But Morgan’s privileged status did not protect them; instead, it made existing abuses even more prominent. When Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo filed a pay discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, Morgan joined them.
“I felt significantly younger and less experienced than” the others, Morgan told USA TODAY Sports last year. “I felt in that moment that this was an opportunity to learn, to step outside of myself and be uncomfortable, even if I was doing the right thing.”
“And I think that was a defining moment for me when I realized that I have a platform and the ability to speak up and get people to listen to me.”
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That complaint was the precursor to the equal pay lawsuit filed by USWNT players three months before the 2019 World Cup. Morgan became the lead plaintiff, knowing her name and celebrity would bring more attention to the case and increase pressure on the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Although she and Rapinoe were the public faces of the lawsuit that resulted in a groundbreaking contract in 2022, Morgan’s involvement went far beyond that. Becca Roux, executive director of the USWNT Players Association, recalled Morgan sending documents back with changes and notes. She actively participated in calls with lawyers and advisers.
But her activism wasn’t limited to equal pay. Once she found her voice, Morgan raised it for a variety of issues.
She was outspoken about racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights. She was a staunch ally of her then-teammate Mana Shim, who reported an abusive coach, and when Shim’s story became public, Morgan steadfastly demanded that both the NWSL and US Soccer do more to protect players. Frustrated by the lack of coverage of women’s sports and female athletes, Morgan co-founded Togethxr, a media and commerce company, with Sue Bird, Chloe Kim and Simone Manuel.
She also wrote a series of children’s books, The Kicks, which promote teamwork and positivity in young girls. And when critics called the USWNT “arrogant” during the 2019 World Cup for having the audacity to own up to its size, Morgan forcefully pushed back against the double standards and misogyny behind them.
“I’m so proud of what I’ve accomplished, having Charlie and knowing that she doesn’t have to fight the battles that I had to fight,” Morgan told USA TODAY Sports last year. “I hope that now I’m fighting so she doesn’t have to. She can just have fun. She can play. She can do what she loves without having to worry about it.”
Morgan is one of the greatest players to ever play in this country or any other, but it is the work she has done to give the girls and young women who come after her an equal opportunity in football and every other sport that makes her a legend.
Follow USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
