Hope Solo just blogged about the crazy inequality in women’s sports team like a badass

Hope Solo is an incredible athlete, Olympian, and all-around badass. She’s won two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup gold medal. But despite her clear talent and international accolades, she still doesn’t believe women’s soccer is getting the respect it deserves. And she’s got some really good points.

And this time she’s not letting it get past her (which is one of the reasons we love her so much).

In a recent post on her personal blog, she discussed a recent game between two professional women’s soccer teams that took place in pretty frustrating conditions. Rather than playing on a standard field, the women were forced to have the match in the outfield of a baseball stadium. Which, understandably, upset a lot of people. false

She uses this as a jumping off point to bring up a bunch of issues that professional women soccer players have been dealing with for a really long time. She discusses how most players salaries are below the poverty line and that “…our season actually has been lengthened without an increase in pay, or incentives to make the playoffs. Basically, we’re being asked to play for free for several months of the season.”

It’s crazy to think that these women who have proved themselves time and time again to be absolutely outstanding athletes have to not only consistently come up against these below-standard conditions, but have been fighting for equality in all sorts of ways for a really long time.

Hope’s post is thoughtful, thorough, and makes some really excellent points that need to be discussed on a bigger scale. And it’s great timing to reopen the discussion on equality, especially with the upcoming Summer Olympics and the absolutely incredible team of women that will be representing the United States in Rio very soon.