Moving Towards Equal Pay for Professional Female Athletes: What We Can Learn from Equal Pay Legislation in Iceland

Abstract

Equal pay legislation has existed in the United States for over fifty years, yet the equal pay gap continues to be an issue for working women across all professions.' Professional female athletes fight a much larger pay disparity than working women in conventional careers because the higher a woman's salary, the greater the wage gap. 2 Despite the vast pay disparity between professional male and female athletes, female athletes are not suing to gain pay equality in the United States. In fact, the Women's National Soccer Team's complaint-filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission detailing the unequal pay they received from their governing body, the United States Soccer Federation-was the first legal action taken by professional athletes of its kind. 3 This raises the question, with such a large gender pay gap in professional sports, why aren't more female athletes suing their governing bodies in order to obtain equal pay? This Note will explore the issue of gender pay inequality in professional sports and whether Iceland's new legislation, enacted in January 2018, would help achieve pay equality for female athletes. 4 In Part 1, this Note will provide background and historical information about the gender pay gap nationally in the United States as well as in professional sports. This Note will examine the popular cases of the Women's National Soccer Team and the Women's National Hockey Team, as well as pay equality issues in other professional sports. Part 2 will detail the current legislation used in the U.S. in pay inequality cases, including the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Part 3 of this Note will detail Iceland's history of leading the world in gender equality issues and the new legislation this country enacted with the specific purpose of eliminating gender pay inequality in all careers. Finally, part 4 will determine whether the United States should enact legislation similar to Iceland's new law in order to fight pay inequality more effectively in professional sports.