Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Iowa’s governor will deliver the GOP State of the Union response, traditional retailers embrace sexual wellness, and the U.S. Women’s National Team achieves a long-sought goal. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
– On the ball. How do you calculate back pay for four World Cup titles, four Olympic gold medals, and six straight years ranked FIFA’s No. 1?. U.S. Soccer settled on a number: $24 million.
The federation finally settled its six-year lawsuit with the U.S. Women’s National Team over unequal compensation, paying out the multimillion-dollar sum. The bulk of the settlement is, in fact, back pay—a “tacit admission that compensation for the men’s and women’s teams had been unequal for years,” per the New York Times.
“It was just extremely motivating to see organizations and employers admit their wrongdoing, and us forcing their hand in making it right,” player Alex Morgan told the Times. U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone says the “important thing” is that the stakeholders are “moving forward together.”
The settlement brings to a close the years-long fight that saw the prizewinning women’s team pitted against their employer. Players called out lower pay and inferior working conditions compared to their male peers, even as they outperformed the men in soccer championships. Some of the settlement’s terms depend on the ratification of a contract between U.S. Soccer and the players’ union. Yet it’s still a satisfying end to a saga that outraged soccer fans worldwide.
The team’s lasting legacy may be its status as a voice for equal pay. Says Morgan: “The domino effect that we helped kick-start—I think we’re really proud of it.” Canada’s women’s soccer team, the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, and the WNBA’s players all followed the U.S. soccer team’s example by fighting for equal play in their own workplaces. (At Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit last year, WNBA star Sue Bird recalled trading tips with her fiancée and soccer star, Megan Rapinoe, on the fight for fair compensation by their respective athletic leagues.)
As part of its settlement, U.S. Soccer agreed to guarantee equal pay for all men’s and women’s players in the years to come. The soccer stars we know and love had to fight hard to get their due—and thanks to their work, the next generation of players hopefully won’t have to. In Rapinoe’s words: “When we win, everyone wins.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- GOP view. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will deliver the GOP response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union next week. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the party tapped Reynolds because she chose "freedom over lockdowns and personal responsibility over mandates" in her COVID response. Axios
- Crypto clash. The Biden administration is expected to soon roll out a cryptocurrency policy, but its release was delayed by a disagreement between the White House and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Yellen reportedly thinks a proposed executive order related to the government-wide strategy for digital assets—and a "central bank issued digital dollar"—is unnecessary. Fortune
- Workplace danger. Workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence are both linked to a greater risk of high blood pressure in women, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The risk was higher for women who experienced workplace sexual harassment than for women who reported experiencing sexual assault, at 15% and 11% respectively. Women who experienced both were at the greatest risk of hypertension. CNN
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Crypto exchange FTX hired Vensette founder Lauren Remington Platt as head of global luxury partnerships. Former Change.org president Jennifer Dulski joins the board of climate tech company Arcadia. Euler Hermes Group promoted Jennifer Baert to group general counsel (secrétaire générale). Former RocketFuel and Salesforce HR exec Jennifer Trzepacz joins SymphonyAI as chief people officer.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- In stock. Major retailers like Sephora and Bloomingdale's are starting to sell sexual wellness products for the first time. The branding and packaging by female-founded startups like Maude (led by Éva Goicochea) and Dame (led by Alexandra Fine) is helping traditional retailers become more open to selling vibrators and lubricants. New York Times
- Record-setter. Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor is officially the most decorated Black athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics. Her bronze medal in the two-woman bobsled event was her fifth, earning the American the distinction. CBS News
- Quelle horreur! Female directors are making more movies in one particular genre: horror. Industry professionals say the genre is more open to first-time—and thus, often female—directors than others, with less reliance on star power and big budgets. The boom includes films by directors Ruth Paxton, Rose Glass, Romola Garai and Prano Bailey-Bond. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
The long crusade of Clarence and Ginni Thomas New York Times
How Black feminists defined abortion rights The New Yorker
She said her husband was abusive. A judge took away her kids and ordered her arrest ProPublica
PARTING WORDS
"I didn’t come here to be the only one."
-Model Paloma Elsesser on progress for plus-size models in the fashion industry.
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