Megan Rapinoe

Two-time World Cup Champion and co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team, Megan Rapinoe, is using her platform to fight for social justice on and off of the soccer field. What’s more, she is as unapologetic about her political stances as she is about knowing what she deserves and it’s inspiring the women who watch her to do the same.

On the Daily Show, she spoke with Trevor Noah about why women’s soccer doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

“If you spend more on your marketing person and your branding person and your CEO and you have all these people, like, the business is going to run better. So, by the time we get to the game, we’ve been so underinvested in or at such a disadvantage the whole time, it’s shocking that we have as much success as we do. Or we’re as popular as we are.”

While she is very much aware of the importance and impact of her advocacy work, Rapinoe still acknowledges the privilege of the players on the team. In the same interview, Rapinoe and Noah talk about her memoir, One Life, which details the story of how her fight inspired her aunt’s fight for equal pay.

“I think that’s probably the most rewarding and the most important part out of our team’s fight with the federation and the lawsuits and the equal pay fight. Of course, we’re doing it on our behalf, but still in the grand scheme, we’re so privileged. We still make a lot of money, we’re still like, superstars of some kind. But for so many women out there—it’s my aunt in her job, it’s a domestic worker, or it’s a restaurant worker…. To know that we’ve inspired…. that’s the biggest win I think that we could have.

For Rapinoe, the greatest win of her fight is how it has inspired women across backgrounds to fight for what they deserve.

Rapinoe, who took home the two top honors of the 2019 Women’s World Cup Championship—the Golden Boot for top scorer and the Golden Ball for the best player in the tournament—knows what she is owed. “We really do deserve all of that,” she says in an interview with BAZAAR, “I think all women in professional sports, all women period, deserve much more.”