EQUAL PAY, EQUAL HEALTH: Player Voices from The Women’s Soccer Health Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53646/3hqkek65Keywords:
Concussion, Epidemiology research, Nutrition, SoccerAbstract
The concept of Equal Pay, Equal Health is motivated by the fact that women’s soccer players not only receive less pay than male players but are also under-represented in sports health research. The Women’s Soccer Health Study: From Head to Toe has collected data on 560 retired elite women’s soccer players in 5 health domains: General, Musculoskeletal, Reproductive, Post-Concussion, and Mental. Previous publications have reported on the high number of musculoskeletal injuries and post-concussion symptoms. Another key finding has been that players with ACL reconstruction have lower post-career satisfaction. To incorporate athlete voices, the players were asked to rank the 5 health domains in order of importance and to report other topics that were missing from the study. The top-ranked area was mental health, and nutrition topped the list of other health issues. Among the 99 written comments, 30% expressed appreciation for this research on female athlete health.
References
1. U.S. Soccer and Women’s Players Agree to Settle Equal Pay Lawsuit, The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/sports/soccer/us-womens-soccer-equal-pay.html [Accessed July 15, 2025].
2. Anderson N, Robinson DG, Verhagen E, Fagher K, Edouard P, Rojas-Valverde D, et al. Under-representation of women is alive and well in sport and exercise medicine: what it looks like and what we can do about it. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. 2023;9:e001606.
3. Cowley ES, Olenick AA, McNulty KL, Ross EZ. "Invisible sportswomen": The sex data gap in sport and exercise science research. Women Sports Phys Activity J. 2021;29(2):146-151.
4. Paul RW, Sonnier JH, Johnson EE, et al. Inequalities in the evaluation of male versus female athletes in sports medicine research: A systematic review. Am J Sports Med. 2023;51(12):3335-3342.
5. Elliott-Sale K, Ross E, Burden R, Hicks K. The BASES Expert Statement on Conducting and Implementing Female Athlete-Based Research. The Sport and Exercise Scientist. 2020;(65):6-7. Available from: https://www.bases.org.uk/BASES-Expert-Statements.
6. Ling DI, Hannafin JA, Prather H, Skolnik H, Chiaia TA, de Mille P, Lewis CL, Casey E. The Women’s Soccer Health Study: From Head to Toe. Sports Med. 2023;53(10):2001-2010.
7. Law DL, de Mille P, Prather H, Skolnik H, Chiaia TA, Lewis CL, Casey E, Hannafin JA, Ling DI. Factors associated with career longevity and satisfaction: findings from the women’s soccer/football health study. Science and Medicine in Football. 2025;DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2025.2584073.
8. Ahmed OH, Defoe J, West LR, et al. Creating the dream team: introducing participatory sports and exercise medicine via 'Patient Voices'. Br J Sports Med. 2018;52(24):1547-48.
9. McCleery J, Diamond E, Kelly R, Li L, Ackerman KE, Adams WM, Kraus E. Centering the female athlete voice in a sports science research agenda: a modified Delphi survey with Team USA athletes. Br J Sports Med. 2024 Oct 17;58(19):1107-1114.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Daphne I. Ling, Jo A. Hannafin, Heidi Prather, Heidi Skolnik, Rachel Vanderkruik, Theresa A. Chiaia, Polly de Mille, Cara L. Lewis, Ellen Casey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.