Reasons To Achieve The American Dream

People come to America for many reasons, most wanting to achieve their American dream. The American dream is “something people wish to achieve in life, in which freedom lets people have the opportunity for success and equality.” Everyone has their definition of the American dream and what they want to achieve in life. An athlete perceives their American dream as playing professionally in a sport that they enjoy while making a significant amount of money. The payment gap between men and women athletes has severely impaired the women’s chances to achieve their American Dream due to the unfair advantage of the male athlete salary.
In the article Sports in Women Empowerment, Nancy Theberge discloses how men are still paid a higher amount than women,
“In the 2015 World Cup, the United States Women’s National Team got a $1.8 million bonus for winning the whole tournament, and the men’s team got an $8 million bonus after losing in the first round” (Barbara Reskin). According to Gender and Sex Diversity in Sport Organization, George Cunningham writes that “on April 5th, 2016, the five highest-paid players in women’s soccer, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Rebecca Sauerbraunn filed a complaint on behalf of the entire team against the US Soccer Federation for the unfair pay” (Cunningham). Just coming off of their World Cup win, Hope Solo states, “When we push for equality, we don’t want the same thing. We just want it more balanced.” The women have the viewership record of all of the soccer matches in history with 26.7 million people watching for their World Cup win, so they felt like they were worthy of a more reasonable amount of money. In the article Gender and Sex Diversity in Sports Organization, the author George Cunningham claims the idea that the women are very underpaid, especially when it comes to the World Cup, and should be paid an equal amount. In the article Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women’s Work, the author Barbara Reskin agrees with Cunningham and adds how the women filed with good reason and had proof and the soccer federation said that the request was
In the article Women, Sports and Science, Sandra Hanson states, “Sports are a social institution constructed by men that reflects traditional male stereotypes of dominance and aggression.” This suggests that some people usually view sports as a man’s activity. Hanson then goes on to say, “Women are typically considered ill-equipped to participate in sports, and their participation is viewed as unfeminine and thus undesirable.” In the article, Advantage Men: The Sex Pay Gap, Collin Flake suggests that sports are considered a masculine pastime, so that is where the mindset comes from. He states, “Much of the literature on gender inequality in sport is devoted to media bias and conceptualizations of masculinity and femininity.” Society has this mindset that women in sports is unacceptable, which then translates over into their salaries, making their salaries reflect on how people view women in sports. The United States Soccer Federation was shocked when the women complained. They reasoned their feelings with the fact that the salary has increased frequently over the years and that the women should be happy that they are even getting that much. They also argued that the women don’t bring in enough money to be getting that much and don’t play hard enough to earn that salary. According to Gender and Sex