Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard by now that the US Women’s National Soccer Team won the World Cup yesterday. They are only the second team to win back-to-back championships, broke the record for total goals scored in a single World Cup, and now have won four out of eight total Women’s World Cups.

That’s the good news. The bad news is the egregious wage gap between the men’s and women’s team. The women’s team maxes out at $110,000 per player for winning the World Cup, while the men’s team stand to earn $1,114,429 per player for winning the tournament.

FIFA’s total prize money available to the men last year was $400 million, while it offered $30 million for this year’s women’s tournament.

(In case you were curious, the men’s team didn’t even qualify for the World Cup.)

The sexism hasn’t stopped at the pay, it’s continued with commentary throughout the tournament. Things like: “They celebrate too much”, “They scored too many goals”, “They’re arrogant.” “Megan [Rapinoe] should win first before she talks.”

I can’t count the number of times I’ve thrown up my hands, “No one would ever say that about a man!”

While pursuing the greatest levels of professional achievement, and proving they are truly the best team the world has ever seen, these women have used their platform to push women’s equality to the forefront of the conversation. They’ve taken risks on and off the field, including filing a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer.

Winning not only showed that these women are a force to be reckoned with, but it also made abundantly clear that there’s a groundswell of support around them. When the match ended and the FIFA officials stepped onto the field, a thundering “EQUAL PAY” chant erupted in the stadium.

To the Women Who Won: Thank you. Thank you for being outspoken (despite Trump’s bullying), and thank you for starting the momentum that we promise to keep going. The World Cup may be over but our fight for equality isn’t.

Abby Wambach, the world’s all-time international goal scorer, said it best: “ We all just watched brilliant, brazen, united, joyful, unapologetic women – scoring, speaking out and celebrating on the world stage. Today, this team showed America what’s possible: no- they showed us what is INEVITABLE: women will lead us. And will win. And we won’t keep our mouths shut about inequality any longer.”

“Now pay them,” she added.

We couldn’t agree more.

x Ashley and Claire