一周前，美国女子国家足球队以2:0的比分击败荷兰，赢得了今年的女足世界杯。

梅根·拉皮诺埃再一次展现了标志性的动作——昂首挺胸、张开双臂且自信非凡。不久之前可能还会有人认为该姿势凸显了无可救药的傲慢。美国女足表现卓越及拒不道歉的作风推动了女足运动发展，而且不管怎么说都带来了巨大荣耀。

既然说起来，有个问题值得一提：在八届女足世界杯比赛中，美国女足四次夺冠。美国男足却一次都没有当过冠军

《卫报》的莫伊拉·多尼根评论道：“美国女性足球运动员的人才库似乎源源不断。”她指出了很正确的一点，即美国女足之所以强大，很大程度上是因为鼓励女性参与体育运动。而且是通过立法实现的：

“在很大程度上，我们是靠政策得以实现，特别是1972年的《教育修正法案》。在夏威夷国会女议员帕特西·明克带领下，《教育修正法案》第九条对女权主义者做出回应，填补了《1964年民权法案》的漏洞，因为该法案允许联邦资助的学校、学院和大学进行性别歧视。第九条规定禁止性别歧视，而且适用于所有教育机构以及各种学科——包括体育。”

多尼根回顾了帮助女性争取参与体育运动权利的历史，包括立法过程中让人不想了解的荒唐细节。“总的来说，《法案第九章》在为妇女和女孩创造无歧视教育环境方面只能说还算成功。”她总结道。“但是体育运动中的非歧视条款确实鼓励了美国女孩参加体育运动，取得了巨大成功。”当然也降低了中学的学费。

因此，在运动场上找到归属的女性，往往也希望能够帮助别人获得同样的尊重。

比如，拉皮诺埃成为第一批声援科林·卡佩尼克的职业运动员之一。“我没有经历过过度监管、种族貌相、警察暴行或者家人曝尸街头。”她在《玩家论坛》（Player’s Tribune）发表了一篇见解深刻的文章称。“但这个国家里有人被迫面对痛心的场面，我不能袖手旁观。”

她不是唯一一个这样做的人。

所有参加比赛的美国运动员都知道下一场比赛将惨烈无比，因为下一场是针对管理机构美国足球总会提起的性别歧视诉讼调解。男足运动员每场比赛的收入是女足运动员的三倍，今年女足的世界杯奖金为3000万美元，而去年男子世界杯的奖金为4亿美元。

尽管拉皮诺埃的招牌动作令人激动，但无法与粉丝们传递的力量相提并论。

美国队获胜后，国际足联主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺上台，体育场内的观众开始嘘声四起，然后高呼: “同工同酬！同工同酬！"

我打算必要的时候就循环播放这段呼声。

当然，美国女足并不是只为自己追求公平。但低收入人群也奋起支持很令人高兴。希望球队卓越的成绩可以让选民和商界领袖更愿意接受复杂的法案制定过程，能够坚持到底。

如果每个人都有机会一展风采，一切都会变得更好。大家还要继续努力。（财富中文网）

译者：艾伦

审校：夏林

I’m talking, of course, about the United States Women’s National Team, who won this year’s World Cup after beating the Netherlands 2-0 on Sunday.

Megan Rapinoe’s now signature move — chin up, arms outstretched, gloriously confident, could have been interpreted not long ago as irredeemably arrogant. Instead, the team’s outsized excellence and their unapologetic acknowledgment of same, has been a thrilling development for a sport which has produced nothing but glory by any measure.

But since we’re measuring, here’s just one to consider: In the eight World Cup competitions that have been held, the U.S. women’s team has won four. The U.S. men have won none.

“The talent pool for female soccer players in America appears bottomless,” observes Moira Donegan in the Guardian. She correctly points out that this bounty is thanks in large part to an effort to include girls and women in sports. And that came by way of legislation:

"In large part, we got them through policy, in particular the Education Amendments Act of 1972. Shepherded into law by Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawaii, the title IX provision of the act was a response to feminists’ push to close a loophole in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that allowed federally funded schools, colleges and universities to discriminate by sex. Title IX was intended to prohibit this kind of discrimination, and it applied to all educational programs and all aspects of a school’s operation—including sports."

Donegan walks through the history of the fight for the inclusion of women in sports, including the grotesque sausage-making that was the legislative process. “Taken as a whole, title IX’s success in creating discrimination-free educational environments for women and girls is spotty at best,” she concludes. “But the athletic non-discrimination provision has been a massive success in encouraging American girls to play sports.” And of course, earn an affordable secondary education.

So it should come as no surprise then that the women who found a home on the playing field are often interested in making sure that others are afforded the same respect.

Rapinoe, by way of example, became one of the first professional athletes to take a knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. “I haven’t experienced over-policing, racial profiling, police brutality or the sight of a family member’s body lying dead in the street,” she wrote in a thoughtful post for the Player’s Tribune. But I cannot stand idly by while there are people in this country who have had to deal with that kind of heartache.”

But by no means is she the only one.

All the U.S. athletes took the field knowing their next fight will be a bloody one: Mediation related to the gender discrimination lawsuit they filed against U.S. Soccer, the sport’s governing body. Men make some three times as much per game as the women and the prize pot for the women’s team this year was $30 million, compared to $400 million for last year’s Men’s World Cup.

While Rapinoe’s pose was thrilling, it couldn’t hold a candle to the power move delivered by the fans.

When FIFA President Gianni Infantino took the stage soon after the U.S. victory, the crowd in the stadium began to boo, then chant: “Equal pay! Equal pay!”

I plan to keep that chant on a loop and play it when I need it.

The USWNT’s quest for equity is bigger than themselves, of course. But it was great to see the idea found support even in the cheap seats. Hopefully, the memory of the team's joyful excellence can make the sausage-making of inclusion palatable enough for voters and business leaders alike to stay the course.

Everything is better when everyone gets a shot at playing. And we all have work to do.