Came across this in another forum:
Boys soccer (National team level) is funded at a much higher level than girls or women. The men make, on average, four times what the women make on the National Teams. The Federation runs residency camps for the boys, but not for the girls; it starts scouting and national team programs a year earlier for the boys then the girls; and, the Federation just agreed to spend $1.9 million per year on a "national league" for U16 and U18 boys whilst the girls get - zero.
Our girls are ahead of most of the world because of cultural differences, not funding or support from the Federation. It can be argued that Federal Legislation requiring equal treatment for women and men in educational programs - Title IX - has aided women's sport in general and soccer in particular. And while many women athletes believe that to be the case, there is mounting evidence that it has been largely insignificant. There is also evidence that reliance on college as a training locus for women will impede the development of the game and allow the world to catch up and surpass us, as appears to be the happening (e.g., compare Brazil and the US on the women's side.)
Boys soccer (National team level) is funded at a much higher level than girls or women. The men make, on average, four times what the women make on the National Teams. The Federation runs residency camps for the boys, but not for the girls; it starts scouting and national team programs a year earlier for the boys then the girls; and, the Federation just agreed to spend $1.9 million per year on a "national league" for U16 and U18 boys whilst the girls get - zero.
Our girls are ahead of most of the world because of cultural differences, not funding or support from the Federation. It can be argued that Federal Legislation requiring equal treatment for women and men in educational programs - Title IX - has aided women's sport in general and soccer in particular. And while many women athletes believe that to be the case, there is mounting evidence that it has been largely insignificant. There is also evidence that reliance on college as a training locus for women will impede the development of the game and allow the world to catch up and surpass us, as appears to be the happening (e.g., compare Brazil and the US on the women's side.)
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