Norway FA Agrees Equal Pay

The Norway Football Association (FA) has announced that male and female players will receive the same amount of pay when representing the country.

The agreement between the FA and the country’s international players will see the amount of money paid to the women’s team almost double from £296,845 to £574,540.

This includes almost £50,000 that will be paid by male Norwegian players, from money they currently receive for commercial activities as part of the national teams.

 

This was maybe a small thing for you to do for us. This will maybe not show in your monthly wages. This was maybe an obvious move for you to do! This though means everything for us! For our team! For our sport! But not at least for all the female athletes out there, who does the same work, same sport as men’s do, but get paid less! For you to say that equal pay is how it should be, makes me wanna cry! Makes me Wanne hug you all! Thank you for making this step for female athletes. For showing equality and for helping us all, making it a bit easier, to chase our dreams. To make them come true! RESPECT #equalgame #equalpay

A post shared by Caroline Graham Hansen (@graham95) on Oct 6, 2017 at 11:22am PDT

“Norway is a country where equal standing is very important for us, so I think it is good for the country and for the sport,” said Joachim Walltin, the players’ union head.

“For the girls, it will certainly make a difference. Some of them are working and studying, as well as playing football, and it’s hard to improve then.

“The feeling of being really respected is very important for them. The federation can see it as an investment to increase the level of the women’s team.”

Norway’s decision takes place at a time when there have been disputes about pay and conditions for female footballers in a number of countries, such as Ireland, where female players threatened to go on strike earlier in the year after saying they had to change in airport toilets.

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