Crowd chants ‘equal pay’ at ticker tape parade for US women’s soccer team

The crowd at a parade in New York City on Wednesday celebrating the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup victory chanted “equal pay” in support of the players.

Video showed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and other attendees chanting in support of equal pay, an issue on which the team has pressed the U.S. Soccer Federation.

The crowd chants “equal pay” as the US women’s soccer team celebrates their World Cup victory at the ticker tape #USWNTParade in New York City pic.twitter.com/Lf1jzHSIb0

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 10, 2019

Cuomo also signed legislation at the parade that prohibits unequal pay on the basis of a protected class, including gender, and bans employers from inquiring about a prospective employee’s pay history, his office announced. {mosads}

“New York is going to lead the way and we say to the U.S. Soccer League, and we say to FIFA, if you don’t pay women what you pay men then you have no business in the state of New York because we are going to sign a bill that says equal pay for equal work these women soccer players deserve every dollar that the men soccer players receive,” Cuomo said. 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was also seen leading a chant of “USA! Equal pay!” during his remarks.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio leads chant of “USA! Equal pay!” in speech honoring U.S. women’s national soccer team’s World Cup win. https://t.co/j1h0yXktcK #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/00nKYd33iq

— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2019

De Blasio’s campaign said that he hopes, if elected, to encourage Congress to amend the federal Amateur Sports Act to guarantee pay and resource equity for some national teams and pass a law aimed at ending wage discrimination more broadly.

The Hill has reached out to U.S. Soccer for comment.

The issue of equal pay has received renewed attention following the team’s victory in the World Cup final over the weekend. 

The team’s 28 players sued U.S. Soccer earlier this year, accusing the organization of “institutionalized gender discrimination” including inequity in pay, practice time, practice locations, medical treatment, coaching and travel. The two sides reportedly reached a tentative deal last month.

–This report was updated at 12:10 p.m.