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Megan Rapinoe has made an impassioned plea to women all over the world, calling on them to “fight like hell” until they achieve equal pay .
The US women’s national team (USWNT ) star has been using her platform to champion the fight for equality ever since she led the country to victory at the Women's Football World Cup earlier this year.
Now Rapinoe is calling on all women to “fight like hell” until they achieve equal pay.
“Don't settle for anything less, go for equal, go for more, don't accept any of these sort of antiquated and BS answers," she told the BBC .
"Until we have equal investment and over investment really, because we've been so underserved for so long, we're not gonna have any sort of meaningful conversation about compensation and revenues and TV viewership.
Show all 14 1 /1414 women using social media to change the world 14 women using social media to change the world Marley Dias @iammarleydias At just 11 years old, Marley Dias gained international attention in 2016 after becoming frustrated with the lack of diversity in her school curriculum. What followed was a viral social media campaign, #1000blackgirlbooks, calling for titles featuring black girls as protagonists to be donated. Nearly 4,000 books were donated, and Dias now tackles prejudice and advocates for diversity in literature.
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14 women using social media to change the world Rina Sawayama @rinasonline Rina Sawayama came in a blaze of neon and sci-fi coolness in early 2016 when she released the single 'Where U Are', which explored how humans interact with digital media. Since then, the singer and model from north London has been a trailblazer for intersectional feminism. Whether it’s singing about her experiences as a pansexual woman or starting Twitter conversations about cultural appropriation in the media, Sawayama has taken both the music world and social media by storm with her politically vibrant work. A quick look at her Instagram account (@rinasonline) will reveal a confident woman who is not afraid to voice her opinions to her 141,000 followers.
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14 women using social media to change the world Chidera Eggerue @theslumflower At only 24 years old, Eggerue came to prominence with her viral 2017 social media campaign #SaggyBoobsMatter. 'It was only small-boobed women who were ‘allowed’ to not wear a bra,' the author said in an interview with The Guardian . “I couldn’t understand why … I had to challenge it.” Her decision to not wear a bra shouldn’t be deemed radical, yet here she is in 2019 challenging the ideas that women are pressured to confirming too. Women of all ages and shapes use the hashtag to show pride in themselves, as a result of the body positivity Eggerue championed. Her blog, The Slumflower, also discusses sexism, feminism and racism.
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14 women using social media to change the world Scarlett Curtis @scarcurtis You may know her as the writer who exposed Philip Green’s willingness to profit off feminism but reject the idea of having a pink pop-up stall in Topshop back in October 2018. However, Scarlett Curtis is a trail-blazing feminist in other ways too. The author of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink & Other Lies co-founded The Pink Protest – a collective helping young feminist activist to take action online – in 2017, all while using her social media to challenge misogyny whenever she encounters it.
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14 women using social media to change the world Tarana Burke @TaranaBurke Also known as the mother of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke is an American social activist who is largely responsible for the international movement against sexual harassment that went viral in October 2017. The phrase was first used in 2006 on Burke’s Myspace account after she responded to a 13-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted. The hashtag gained traction after actress Alyssa Milano encouraged victims of harassment to tweet the phrase. The call-out followed sexual abuse allegations against disgraced film producter Harvey Weinstein and has been used at least 19 million times on social media. Burke is a life-long activist for victims of sexual assault and harassment and continues to campaign such issues on social media. She has single-handedly changed the conversation on sexual violence.
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14 women using social media to change the world Sophie Sandberg @catcallsofnyc Tired of being unable to walk down the street without being constantly catcalled by men, activist Sophie Sandberg took to Instagram to expose an epidemic rife in society. Armed with multi-coloured chalk, she began documenting the horrific words that had been said to her all over New York in late 2016. Talking to the BBC about the project she stated: 'By writing [catcalls] in the same place that it happened, I hope the words may remember and think "Oh those were my words".' Women around the globe have been inspired by Sandberg’s work and Instagram accounts of women chalking messages have since sprung up from Columbia to Bangladesh.
Sophie Sandberg
14 women using social media to change the world Hannah Witton @hannahwitton Hannah Witton is a sex-positive YouTuber and author who has vlogged candidly about sexual health, relationships and women’s issues since 2011. Over the years, the Mancunian has amassed over 500,000 subscribers. Witton is inspirationally confident and isn’t afraid of talking about her sex life to her thousands of subscribers in videos such as 'How Many People Have I Slept With?' and 'The Benefits of Porn'. The vlogger is also a champion for body positivity (her most viewed video with over 8 million views is about the struggles of large boobs) and invisible illnesses – as she herself suffers from ulcerative colitis and proudly wears a stoma.
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14 women using social media to change the world Adwoa Aboah @adwoaaboah British model Adwoa Aboah is no stranger to the crippling effect of depression having suffered from it herself. This is why the star established the mental health community Gurls Talk. It began in 2015 with an Instagram account and now serves as a place to discuss topics affecting women without any fear of judgement. It has since grown into a weekly podcast and a series of organised events that have brought women together from across the globe. Talking to the BBC about the project, Aboah noted: 'At school there still isn’t a place for girls and boys to realise they’re not alone …There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I promise that.'
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14 women using social media to change the world Laci Green @gogreen18 YouTuber Laci Green has been educating her subscribers on the nuances of sex education for over 10 years and has amassed over 1.4 million subscribers. The vlogger's videos, which are prominent in the sex-positive movement due to their candour, cover topics such as birth control, hormones and abortion in an attempt to remove the stigma surrounding them. Green is also very outspoken against slut-shaming and sexual harassment, being one of the first YouTubers to address the sexual harassment claims levied against vlogger Sam Pepper in 2014.
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14 women using social media to change the world Ash Sarkar @AyoCaesar From describing broadcaster Piers Morgan an 'idiot' to declaring herself a communist on Good Morning Britain , Ash Sarkar is a dynamic journalist making waves on the internet and TV. The north London native champions the rights of women and immigrants on social media, with a Twitter account that is rife with political commentary with a humorous edge. Meanwhile, her Instagram showcases all her campaigning work including protests on climate change and Brexit. Sarkar is also a senior editor at Novara Media – an independent, radical left-wing news organisation.
Ash Sarkar
14 women using social media to change the world Gina Martin @ginamartin Writer and activist Gina Martin hit national headlines when she began a viral campaign to make 'upskirting' illegal. Taking to Facebook, Martin explained how a man took photos of her crotch without her permission and got away with it in a post that subsequently went viral in 2017. She then launched a petition for her case to be reopened and for the action to be made part of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act. Using the hashtag, #StopSkirtingTheIssue, the petition managed to get over 100,000 signatures. As of 2019, 'upskirting' is now illegal and this is largely down to the efforts of Martin. The activist continues to promote feminist causes to her 40,000 Instagram followers.
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14 women using social media to change the world Rowan Blanchard @rowanblanchard When Rowan Blanchard isn’t taking over the world of acting, she’s taking to Twitter and Instagram to talk to her 5.1 million followers about various activist pursuits. The 17-year-old uses her platform to discuss social and economic issues, with topics as diverse as human rights and gun control, and isn’t afraid to give a voice to those who haven’t been heard. Blanchard was very vocal in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shootings earlier this year, talking with activists and highlighting their plight on social media.
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14 women using social media to change the world Liv Little @livlittle As the founder of Gal-dem , a magazine produced by women of colour, Liv Little has gained international recognition for her work in diversifying print media. After becoming frustrated with the lack of representation at Bristol University where Little attended, the 25-year-old created the publication in an attempt to give women of colour a voice in the media. Her business is growing rapidly, alongside Gal-dem’s social media following which stands at more than 111,000. Little can be found on Twitter talking about everything from activism to literature.
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14 women using social media to change the world Kat Blaque @kat_blaque Blaque is a transgender activist who forged her career calling out racism, transphobia and white privilege on her successful YouTube channel of the same name. In an interview with The Huffington Post she said: 'I’m a woman. I’m black. I’m curvy and I’m trans … when I talk about those things, I am literally talking about my embodiment of those intersections.' Her series, 'True Tea', is where she candidly embraces controversial topics in an attempt to change the narrative around them. Videos include 'Why is "LeftTube" So White' and 'Cultures Are Not Costumes'.
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“I know it's frustrating and hard – at times you feel like you're banging your head against a wall – but we're sort of in it anyways,” she added.
"It's a fact of life for us so we might as well fight like hell."
In March, the USWNT filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation , accusing the governing body of “institutionalised gender discrimination” over equal pay.
All 28 members of the team filed class action lawsuits, which also allege discrimination over training facilities, coaching, medical treatment and travel conditions.
In August, it was announced that mediation talks between the team and the US Soccer Federation ended without reaching an agreement .
The players later stated that they have since turned their attention to the courts where they are “eagerly look forward to a jury trial”.
During the BBC interview, the 34-year-old, who has been dating basketball player Sue Bird since 2017, also spoke about issues facing the LGBT+ community.
Addressing those who don't feel able to be open about their sexuality, Rapinoe said: “Eventually the environment will be different where you feel like you can come out.
“We're trying to make it better and set the environment so when you are ready to come out, the environment is ready for you."
The football captain continued by discussing racism in sport – a topic she previously mentioned during her acceptance speech after being awarded Fifa Player of the Year alongside Lionel Messi in September.
“If there's ever an instance of racism, if every single player on the field is not outraged then to me they're part of the problem,” she said.
Rapinoe added that she doesn’t believe that current sanctions for racism in sport are tough enough.
“£65,000 is an absolute joke,” she said, referring of the fine given to Bulgaria for the racist abuse of England players in their recent Euro 2020 qualifier.
“For me I'm just like, make it super extreme so it's damaging to the team, to the federation, so it's damaging financially.”
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