Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green said he is “tired” of listening to female athletes complain about unequal pay.
The NBA star said on Wednesday that female athletes who claim that there is an unfair wage gap based on gender are not doing anything to correct it other than complain. His comments come after U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe spoke about the alleged pay discrimination from the White House on March 24.
“You know, I’m really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay because they’re doing themselves a disservice by just complaining,” Green said. “They are [just complaining] because they’re not laying out steps that they can take to change that. So, it’s coming off as a complaint because the people that can change it, they are just going to continue to say, ‘Well, the revenue isn’t there. The revenue isn’t there. So if you don’t bring in the revenue, we can’t up your pay.’”
“They’re going to keep using that. But the reality is, as true as that is, it’s an excuse,” Green continued. “Everyone says ‘We support women, we support women empowerment, we support women in the workplace, we do this for women, we do x for women,’ blah blah blah. Everyone uses it to their advantage, and yet these women are not using these people who are saying these very things to their advantage. So then it just becomes a complaint that falls on deaf ears.”
"I'm really tired of seeing them complain about the lack of pay, b/c they're doing themselves a disservice by just complaining."
Today Draymond talked about his Tweets about women's sports that received criticism from athletes like @mPinoe & @Layshiac @kron4news #DubNation pic.twitter.com/7iUQ982jx9— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) April 1, 2021
Rapinoe, who is reportedly worth over $3 million, complained about alleged pay discrimination from a White House podium last month while asserting that she has been “disrespected and dismissed” for being a woman.
“I’m a member of the LGBTQ community with pink hair, and where I come from, I could have only dreamed of standing in the position I am today at the White House. I’m also a professional athlete, and I’ve helped — along with all of my teammates virtually here today, one teammate literally here today — win four World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals for the United States,” Rapinoe said.
“Despite those wins, I’ve been devalued, I’ve been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman. I’ve been told that I don’t deserve any more than less because I am a woman. You see, despite all the wins, I’m still paid less than men who do the same job that I do,” she continued. “For each trophy — of which there are many — and for each win, for each tie, and for each time that we play, it’s less.”
“I know there are millions of people who are marginalized by gender in the world and experience the same thing in their jobs,” Rapinoe said. “And I know there are people who experience even more where the layers of discrimination continue to stack against them. And I and my teammates are here for them. We on the U.S. Women’s National Team are here because of them.”
In March 2019, the U.S. Women’s National Team filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer for allegedly discriminating against female athletes in pay based on their gender. The judge in the case dismissed a major part of the lawsuit in May 2020 while pointing out that the women’s team had negotiated its own collective bargaining agreement and expressly rejected a pay structure like the men’s team.