US women's football team files suit demanding equal pay as their male colleagues

The entire United States (US) women's senior national football team has filed legal action against the US Soccer Federation (USSF), months before they begin their defence of the Women's World Cup title.

The discrimination lawsuit seeks equal pay and working conditions.

The players also want the USSF to "promote gender equality".

The USSF is yet to comment on the legal action.

The US has won the Women's World Cup three times.

They won the inaugural 1991 tournament in China, the 1999 event held in the US and then in Canada four years ago.

The US men's senior football team has never won the World Cup.

They made the quarter-finals in 2002, but their third place finish in 1930 remains their best showing at the global showpiece event for men’s football.

The women’s team contends, in their lawsuit filed with the US District Court in Los Angeles, that they have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts.

This they claim is despite the fact that they and their male counterparts are called upon to "perform the same job responsibilities" on their respective teams and participate in international competitions for the same employer, the USSF.

"This is true even though their performance has been superior to that of the male players, with the female players, in contrast to male players, becoming world champions," the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, the USSF has admitted that it pays female players less than male players on the basis that “market realities are such that the women do not deserve to be paid equally to the men."

"The USSF admits to such purposeful gender discrimination even during times when the [women] earned more profit, played more games, won more games, earned more championships, and/or garnered higher television audiences," the suit claims.

The Women's World Cup is scheduled to take place in France between June 7 and July 7.

Jamaica's Reggae Girlz will be playing in the tournament for the first time.

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