Megan Rapinoe’s Thoughts on the Fight for Equality in Women’s Soccer and Beyond

The former pro soccer player shared her thoughts during her 2019 SI Swimsuit debut.

Megan Rapinoe was photographed by Ben Watts in St. Lucia / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Megan Rapinoe may be retired from professional soccer, but she’s not done bringing about change in the sporting world and beyond.

As a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) and a star in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), that was always her M.O. She was a changemaker, always trying to better the landscape in professional soccer and in other professional sporting realms as well. It was a desire to level the playing field that guided much of her approach to the fight for equal pay for professional women’s soccer players.

In fact, on the set of her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in 2019, she spoke to the work that needed to be done in the NWSL to achieve her lofty goals. “I think one thing that people need to understand is all of these other sports leagues, whether it’s the NBA or the MLS or whatever, they don’t have millions of fans because millions of people are obsessed with the MLS, NBA or the NFL,” she explained. “There’s marketing. There’s thought put into it. There’s branding. There’s dedicated ticket people. There’s massive strategy with very smart people behind all of it.”

Much as those leagues have built a following—and in turn secured higher salaries and the like for their players—Rapinoe wanted the same for the NWSL. But that, too, was only a small piece of a larger conversation about female equality. Where that larger goal was concerned, she saw it as an “opportunity to change and to grow and to push the conversation forward and to push our society forward.”

Since that 2019 SI Swimsuit-sponsored trip to St. Lucia, where Rapinoe shared her thoughts and ambitions for female equality (in the NWSL and beyond), the former star player has retired from the game. She’s no longer donning an OL Reign uniform each week and hitting the pitch. She’s no longer working towards change from within the system. But she is still working towards change.

In December 2022, Rapinoe and Sue Bird founded A Touch More, a production company dedicated to elevating the stories of the changemakers in society. They launched the venture in partnership with TOGETHXR, the female-founded media company with the same ambitions (elevating female voices).

For Rapinoe, the fight didn’t end when she put away her jersey. She’s still striving for equality (in soccer and beyond) day in and day out.

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated