Greatness Comes Only With Sacrifice
Ashlyn Harris, Goalkeeper for the Orlando Pride and REIGNING Women's World Cup Champion team, is one of the best soccer players in the world.
Back in February of last year, she agreed to do an interview with me for a non-profit organization I created, Face of a Feminist.
The organization raised awareness about women's issues and helped struggling single Moms in the local community, but I had to dissolve it recently because of time constraints.
"I've Missed Out On A LOT" -Ashlyn Harris
As I watched the 2019 Women's World Cup finals, I remembered I had this interview with her and this insight. We just watch these athletes and they make it look so easy. We're so quick to judge them when they fail and attach ourselves to them when they succeed! It's easy to be a fan, not so much to be the athlete.
These women pour blood, sweat and tears into the sport they love and we reap the benefits as a country when they win.
In fact, the Women's team has won 4 World Cup titles! They're badasses. Plain and simple. The Men's team has never won a World Cup. I don't say that to insult anyone, it's just an interesting fact to know. These women...win.
Remember that as you watch when we chatted last year about how important it was for people to come support the MLS women's team in Orlando:
Below is an instagram video of when I sat on a women's empowerment panel for the Orlando Pride team right next to Ali Krieger, another World Cup champion and overall badass. Since it's a short clip, you don't hear me say how intimidating and embarrassing it was for me to be sitting on a panel with the world's best female soccer player and I was just a mere radio personality.
I believe I said something silly about not feeling as successful as I once thought. Luckily everyone, including Ali, laughed.
Pictured Feb 2018: Laura Diaz (Laura's List Podcast/Mix 100.7 Morning Show Host) & Ashlyn Harris (USA Women's 2019 World Cup Goalkeeper)
I'll leave you with this
As I watched the World Cup women players and their sheer souls being left on the field, I couldn't help but remember but my chat with Ashlyn about wanting wage equality. I couldn't help but think of her when I was cheering and emotional watching my 6 year old daughter's eyes wide open and glued to the TV.
I thought about the gross pay gap between the men and women's teams and how plain unfair it is. I felt for these women. I thought about all the people who would say 'well yeah but they don't earn as much as the men earn for the sport' but that's just not true. Here's a great article: CLICK HERE
So, here it is. The truth. These women only made $200k each for winning the friggin World Cup?!?! Had the men won the whole thing, each of them would earn $1.1 million.
And I understand the pay gap issue is a contentious one. It's kind of like climate change. For some reason, there are still people who want to fight its existence. Well, pay gap is real. Not only between women and men, but races and ages too. It's unfortunate and I don't blame any one group of people. And like anything, it's not a blanket problem. Plenty of women make more than men in certain cases for similar jobs. But, that's not the norm and can't be used to negate a sweeping issue.
It's decades of injustices. Women not voting until 1920. Women not being able to go to Ivy League Schools until about 50 years ago. All kinds of reasons. But just like it took years to get to this point, it's taking us years to unravel it all.
And I couldn't be prouder of the women players who are putting their names and reputations and money on the line to fight for us all. Their lawsuit (in case you didn't know a bunch of the female players are suing U.S. soccer for wage discrimination) makes me just as proud as their recent win! I'll be watching closely as they pave the way for our daughters! xoxo
Congratulations again to the best soccer team in the WORLD!