On Tuesday, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) reached a historic settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation in their long-running lawsuit over unequal pay. Under the terms of the agreement, the athletes will receive $24 million and a pledge from the soccer federation to equalize pay for the men’s and women’s national teams.
After the long-awaited news was released, we tracked mentions of @USWNT and organic posts on Twitter from the USWNT official account, as well as USWNT players, media outlets, hashtags and keywords that were a part of the conversation. Here are some findings and highlights we discovered.
All Eyes On Social
In less than 2 days (2/22-2/23), more than five thousand organic posts were collected, resulting in more than 152K engagements and almost 51M impressions. Fans everywhere were logging on to read and talk about the historic settlements and what a win it was for women everywhere.
Popular Influencers Applaud USWNT
There were several key influencers in and around the conversation who drew attention to the news and drove discussion on Twitter. Based on impressions, Just Women’s Sports topped the list. Their impressive coverage generated over 2.7M impressions as they shared the news with their engaged audience. In terms of engagement, Bleacher Report and President Biden earned the most engagement across the conversation, with 18.1K and 17K engagements respectively.
This is a long overdue victory in the fight for equal pay. I’m proud of the @USWNT for never giving up — on and off the field.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2022
Now, let’s close the pay gap in every industry. https://t.co/XHcHwseA9j
The @USWNT has reached a landmark $24 million settlement with US Soccer, ending a six-year legal fight over equal pay. pic.twitter.com/pq2TK06ZCr
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) February 22, 2022
After the news was released, many other users joined the conversation around the USWNT on social, celebrating the big win for women's sports. Numerous prominent athletes and social figures chimed in, like American former soccer goalkeeper, Hope Solo, and US First Lady, Jill Biden.
Twitter Responds Positively
The growing popularity of the USWNT and women's sports was also evident in the tone of social chatter. Twitter activity surrounding the USWNT Equal Pay settlement trended positive, with a majority 54% of posts showing positive sentiment and over 92% of content reading as positive or objective. Athletes, influencers, government figures, news sources, and activists expressed their support and gratitude that the pay equality issue, especially in sports, was going in the right direction.
The USWNT settlement was a a major win for those athletes, and seeing an expansive and positive conversation about the USWNT news on social media is a good sign of the progress being made in the perception and support of women's sports.
