Growing up in Southern California, I was what most would consider a tomboy. My two sisters, Jeri and Jenny, and I were never at home, always running around the neighborhood, or at practice — volleyball, softball, soccer. We never sat still. And we played right alongside the boys. The teams were always co-ed when we played for fun.

At home, my mom and my dad shared equally in the responsibilities of the family and our home, and always demonstrated the importance of men and women having an equal role. My mom even took night classes for five years when I was young to earn a master's degree in business and laid her own path for a successful career. They both wanted to provide for their family, and they taught me how to be a good, reliable, upstanding person, sister, and teammate.

I rarely felt or noticed any real divide between girls and boys when I was growing up. Maybe it was because I was so involved in sports and competed with the boys. Maybe it was my mom and dad, who constantly instilled confidence in me and never made me feel as though there were boy activities and girl activities.

It wasn't until 1999 when my idols Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly took home the women's World Cup trophy at the Rose Bowl in front of 40 million TV viewers that I remember thinking how rare it was to see women play sports on TV. Despite the fact that I knew girls and women could be athletic (I was a prime example of that), I was used to seeing only men on TV, no matter the sport. I was too young at the time to realize the real divide between men's and women's sports. Nor did I ever consider that one day, I would be raising my hand alongside my teammates asking our employer to pay us the same as our male counterparts that have the exact same job that we have.

Earlier this year I did just that.

Since 2009, I have been a member of the U.S. women's national soccer team. We represent the United States in international soccer competition, and as you may remember, we won the World Cup last summer and were honored with that huge ticker-tape parade in New York City just following that unforgettable tournament. I'll never forget that day, surrounded by my teammates, riding in floats up Broadway, being cheered on by excited fans as far as the eye could see. I Instagrammed a photo of myself flying the American flag high above my head that day, and just looking at it gives me goose bumps.

I am hugely honored to represent my country in the Olympics and in World Cups, and I'm grateful for all the advantages being a professional soccer player brings my way — the opportunities to see the world, the camaraderie and friendships, and more. But, despite our huge commitment and effort, our three World Cup championships, and four Olympic gold medals, we are still earning much less than our counterparts on the U.S. men's national soccer team earn. In fact, in most cases, the men earn more when they lose than we do when we win.

Our World Cup championship game brought in 25.4 million viewers in the United States — that's more than the NBA finals — and we are projected to bring in millions of dollars in revenue in the coming year, while the men's team is projected to lose at least a million dollars. And yet we continue to lag behind in pay.

It was time to take a stand.

So Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, Megan Rapinoe, and I filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing our employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, of wage discrimination on behalf of our entire U.S. women's national team. "Unfortunately," we explained, "the WNT's on-field accomplishments and revenue generation have not resulted in us or our fellow players earning equal or better pay than MNT players. In fact, our compensation pales in comparison to that of the MNT players."

We have dedicated our lives to this sport and our country, and we love our fans and the happiness this game has brought our team. We think it's time for U.S. soccer to truly address the inequality and do what is right.

This is not about the women's team going after the men's team, or comparing stats and records with them. We love those guys, and they havecome out publicly in support of our filing and have offered to help however possible. They have also fought their way to better compensation, and without them fighting for what they have, we would have no general benchmark for what we deserve: equal pay for equal play. It's a pretty simple concept. But as with so many professions in the United States, it is still not a reality for the female soccer players who represent this country.

We ultimately decided to file this motion for all the little girls around the world who deserve the same respect as well as the boys. They deserve a voice, and if we as professional athletes don't leverage the voices we have, we are letting them down. We will not let them down.

Support the U.S. women's soccer team's campaign on social media by using the hashtag #EqualPlayEqualPay.

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