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When she was playing soccer as a child, Rashidatu Kamara never had reason to believe she couldn鈥檛 be one of the boys.

From the time she was 8 years old, they welcomed her into pickup games in their neighborhood cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Soon, she was so good that her friends would nearly come to blows about whose side she was going to play for that day.

鈥淭hey never gave me reason to doubt that a girl could play,鈥� she says.

That came later, when Ms. Kamara was called up to her national team. The first time she represented her country in a tournament abroad, she made $300, a princely sum to the child of a fisherman from a poor neighborhood. But it paled in comparison with the $2,000 the men made each time they put on their green, white, and blue uniforms for an international match.

So when Sierra Leone鈥檚 sports ministry announced earlier this month that it was equalizing payment for its men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 national teams, players like Ms. Kamara greeted the announcement with no small measure of pride.

鈥淲omen in Sierra Leone often stop playing football young because they don鈥檛 see a future there,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his could change things for the generation behind us.鈥�

Sierra Leone鈥檚 announcement comes on the heels of a similar one by Brazil鈥檚 soccer federation in early September. The two countries join a small but growing cohort of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and England, to offer their women鈥檚 national teams as much as the men for the same work.

In the soccer world, where equality for the women鈥檚 game is a bitter and very much ongoing fight, many view the policies as major symbolic victories.

鈥淚f we want the women鈥檚 game to improve, we have to sow before we can reap 鈥� and that means making pay equal鈥� before popularity can be equal, says Usher Komugisha, a Ugandan journalist covering African women鈥檚 soccer. 鈥淭hese women stand on the field wearing the flag of their countries just like the men do 鈥� there鈥檚 no reason not to treat those experiences with equal value.鈥�

Once banned from playing

Equal pay for the Sierra Leonean and Brazilian teams has special resonance in Africa and Latin America, where women鈥檚 soccer has been particularly neglected. In one of the world鈥檚 greatest soccer powerhouses, Brazil, for instance, women were formally banned from playing, even recreationally, from the 1940s until 1981. Such violent sports as soccer, the law stated, were 鈥渘ot suitable for the female body.鈥� (Similar bans were in place in several European countries until the early 1970s.)

And when the coronavirus pandemic hit Africa in 2020, the Confederation of African Football announced that it was canceling the women鈥檚 continental championship. The men鈥檚 tournament, meanwhile, was simply postponed.

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It sets an important example when a national football federation puts equality before public opinion at home, says Mar铆lia Ruiz, a Brazilian sports commentator and columnist.

鈥淏razilian society still treats soccer as a male sport,鈥� she says.

At the same time, she and others note that equal pay for national teams is only a small piece of the puzzle in making soccer less sexist. National team pay policies can be a 鈥淧R move鈥� to make a country鈥檚 football federation look good while deflecting from more systemic problems, says Ms. Komugisha, who advocates for pay equity in women鈥檚 soccer in Africa.

Brazil, for example 鈥� whose national team is routinely ranked in the world鈥檚 top 10 鈥� doesn鈥檛 have a domestic professional league. The country鈥檚 best players often leave the country to play for European and American leagues, and in 2017, several members of the national squad quit at once, saying they were 鈥渆xhausted from years of disrespect and lack of support鈥� from the country鈥檚 soccer federation.

Fernanda Stulpen played goalkeeper for Brazil鈥檚 national team in 2006. She says she never could have imagined a pledge for equalized pay when she was on the team.

鈥淭he fact that we received anything at that time already helped so much, since the majority [of women players in Brazil] got nothing,鈥� Ms. Stulpen says. Her biggest hope is that the change in pay can boost the value placed on women鈥檚 soccer.

Brazil is also home to arguably the best female soccer player of all time: six-time FIFA player of the year Marta Vieira da Silva, who is also the World Cup鈥檚 leading goal scorer 鈥� man or woman. Yet Brazilians often refer to her as 鈥淧el茅 in a skirt,鈥� setting her up as only an echo of the country鈥檚 most famous male player.

鈥淭he [payments] are equal now, but the conditions to get to them are not,鈥� Ms. Ruiz says.

FIFA prize money

One of the greatest stumbling blocks to truly equal pay is FIFA, soccer鈥檚 global governing body, which doles out prize money for global tournaments like the World Cup. In 2018, the federation set aside $400 million in prize money for teams participating in the men鈥檚 World Cup, including $38 million that went directly to France, the winner. By contrast, FIFA offered $30 million in prize money for the Women鈥檚 World Cup the following year. The champions, the United States, received $4 million, about 10% of the men鈥檚 takings. FIFA has argued听that the discrepancy results from the difference in revenue.听听听听听听听听听

鈥淚 think sometimes FIFA can be a device for [national] federations to explain progress or lack thereof,鈥� says Brenda Elsey, professor of history at Hofstra University in New York and co-host of the sports and feminism podcast 鈥淏urn It All Down.鈥� FIFA鈥檚 lack of support for the women鈥檚 game, she says, makes it easy for member countries to follow suit.

Part of the problem, many say, is that soccer鈥檚 powerful governing bodies remain largely a boys鈥� club. The president of FIFA has never been a woman, and the organization named its first female secretary-general, Senegalese diplomat Fatma Samoura, only four years ago. Meanwhile, only three of FIFA鈥檚 211 member states currently have a national soccer federation run by a woman. Two of them are the United States and Turks and Caicos Islands.
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The third is Sierra Leone.
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The Sierra Leonean association鈥檚 president, Isha Johansen, 鈥渉as been championing women and girls鈥� football for a long time,鈥� says Ms. Komugisha, the Ugandan commentator and activist. 听

So it wasn鈥檛 a surprise, Ms. Komugisha says, to see Sierra Leone step out in front of the field in terms of equalizing pay.

For Ms. Kamara, the team鈥檚 first payment of $2,000 was more than anything she鈥檇 ever seen. She鈥檚 using it, she says, to finish building her parents鈥� house and to pay the school fees of her younger siblings.

鈥淚 tell women to be successful in this game, you have to eat, sleep, breathe football. It is about your passion. The money isn鈥檛 everything,鈥� she says.

鈥淏ut the money is helpful too.鈥�