Australia's national female soccer (football) team,
the Matildas, has boycotted a tour to the US over ongoing pay
disputes. While Football Federation Australia no doubt enjoyed
seeing Kyah Simon put the ball in the back of the net 3 times
during the last World Cup, this is an unwelcome strike (zing! No
this is serious). The public debate over the gender pay gap
continues and central to it is the Matildas' industrial
dispute.
Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between
the Professional Footballers Association (representing the
Matildas) and FFA have stalled and the Matildas have gone two
months with no pay cheque. Key to the dispute is the meagre
remuneration the Matildas receive which is only highlighted by how
much more the Socceroos get – try $500 versus $6500 for a
standard international or $1,250 versus $11,500 for a tournament
semi final. For perspective, that's worse than the goal ratio
between Brazil and Germany in the Semi - Final of the
