Can you replay the United States Women’s National Team’s crushing victory over Japan in the 2015 Women’s World Cup final in your head? You may be in the minority if this game is escaping your memory. The event and the women’s dominating performance throughout the tournament shattered the notion that men’s sports are naturally more popular than women’s sports.

If you are still clinging to the archaic idea that men are “more fun” to watch because of their speed and athleticism, just ask the 23 million Americans that tuned in to watch Carli Lloyd score a brilliant hat trick in the most important game of the year.

The soccer championship was the most-watched soccer game in all of U.S. history. It not only crushed viewership of men’s soccer, but it exceeded the number of fans who watched the NBA Finals.

However, these record-breaking feats on the pitch and on TV meant very little to the compensation received by the members of the championship team.The USWNT are paid bonuses that are dwarfed by the USMNT compensation. The multi-million dollar differences are justified by the larger market on the men’s side. Yet, tides are turning.

The USWNT is projected to run a 5 million dollar surplus in 2017, while the men are projected to run a deficit for their program. In this last year alone, the women brought in nearly 20 million dollars more in revenue than the men’s program.

The women are also exceedingly more successful than the men’s team; as evidenced by the World Cup final, the fans are showing their record-breaking support. This does not stop the U.S. Soccer Federation from paying the women less for winning than the men do for simply showing up.

Although the USWNT maintains a yearly salary, unlike the men, they would make less for winning all 20 games in 1 year than the men would make for losing all 20 games. Despite these differences, the Federation has defended its unequivocal support of the USWNT.

Yet, this “support” does not stop them from paying the women less per day for travel and food, less per sponsor appearance, and less revenue per ticket sold.

The existence of unequal pay for women’s and men’s soccer teams is not new and it is not unique in the world of sports.

The most recent action taken by members of the USWNT to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission follows a long history of fighting for equality for the women of U.S. soccer.  At the negotiation table, women continue to receive less and until recently, this inequity was not covered by the media.

We can pretend that there is not a real problem by discussing issues of supply and demand, but nothing can change the sexist nature of the system. The FIFA organization has been a boys’ club since its inception in 1904.

It was not until 2013 that FIFA selected a woman to its executive committee. There are 209 members on that committee. The result is over a century of an all-male committee dictating how soccer is played, managed, and promoted around the world.

I will let Sepp Blatter, the disgraced former president of FIFA, articulate the culture of the organization. He says that female footballers should “wear tighter shorts” and have a more “feminine aesthetic” to their play in order to solve the disparity between the two sides of the program.

The horror does not end there. In 1991, the first Women’s World Cup was inadequately supported by the governing body. In fact, FIFA named it the M&M’s Cup in fear that it would embarrass their organization and the reputation of the World Cup name. The USWNT took home the championship that year with little recognition or pay.

Unfortunately, in 25 years there has been little progress in respect and support for female soccer players. In the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the top athletes of the world were forced to play on turf fields, despite the well-documented risk of injury.

After organized protests and serious complaints, the women’s objections were shut down. Yet, the idea of the Men’s World Cup being played on turf is appalling. This disparity highlights the lack of respect and value of female athletes.

In a culture steeped in sexism, it is not shocking that women are still paid less than men for the same demands of a sport.

In 1996, the USWNT boycotted the practices leading up to Olympic Games to demand their legitimacy as a national team. In 2016, another boycott looms on the horizon of these not so equal playing fields.

It has been proven too many times that it takes more than a simple awareness to correct injustice. It takes action. These U.S. athletes are not just kicking and screaming about a wage, rather they are demanding justice for themselves and for women all over the world.

Their fight is bigger than themselves. In recent friendlies against the Colombian national team, the USWNT handily beat their opponents. However, the Colombians were missing key players. Several of their star players had been sidelined for the international trip for speaking out about their inadequate compensation as members of the national team.

The U.S. athletes filing the complaint are speaking for those who cannot. Together, these female athletes from around the world represent just a fraction of the billions of women fighting to shatter the seemingly permanent glass ceiling. We can no longer accept the explanation that women are paid less because of their “lesser market value.”

This justifies one disparity with another. Female work is undervalued. This is true on the pitch and in our daily lives.

Silencing the concerns and demands of these women athletes silences women everywhere. Stop telling them they are lucky enough to have a professional sport or a national team. Stop telling them they should not be in it for the money. Stop telling them their sport is lesser.

Instead of dismissing them, question the system. The U.S. Soccer Federation and FIFA are in control of the most popular sport in the world. Though they have failed to uphold the equality of women, they have the power to change the way the world values women athletes.

Though history is not on the side of the USWNT, we have to be. Despite all of the challenges the USWNT faces, they have inspired a nation and become the best team in the world.

We must demand better for them and for women everywhere. If we don’t, we hold back greatness.