During 2015’s Women’s World Cup, the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) came for what they felt was rightfully theirs, mowing down rivals one after another, until, wrapped in the stars and stripes, they hoisted the World Cup in the name of the United States.

Now, they’re coming for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF).

After the USSF filed suit against the USWNT in February to confirm the existence of a collective bargaining agreement the team says no longer exists, five members of the USWNT hit back today, seeking pay commensurate with the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) and asking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the USSF over the disparity in pay between the two teams.

The backlash against the USWNT has been flying fast and furious on social media all day. Women’s soccer isn’t as competitive as men’s soccer, they say. Men’s games bring in more broadcasting revenue than do women’s games. Women’s soccer doesn’t have the same standing in the world as men’s soccer. Women should compare themselves to other women’s teams in the world, not the USMNT.

That would all be well and good if this were Brazil or Sweden or Germany, where, despite very good women's teams, the men’s game still reigns supreme.

But ever since the USWNT burst onto the scene in 1991, it’s been the women, not the men, who have loomed large in U.S. Soccer. The USWNT, currently ranked 1st in the world, has won three World Cups, four Olympic Gold Medals, and notched seven CONCACAF Gold Cup wins. The USMNT, on the other hand, has never done better than the quarterfinals in the World Cup and failed to qualify for the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio.

When it comes to representing the US at the highest levels of the beautiful game, it’s been the USWNT that has been the face of the nation on the world stage. Ask any American to name three members of either team, and you’re far more likely to hear “Abby Wambach,” “Carli Lloyd,” “Alex Morgan,” and “Hope Solo” than you are any player on the men’s team. (MAYBE with the exception of Clint Dempsey.)

But if patriotism isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other reasons the women are woefully underpaid compared to the USMNT. The World Cup Final match between the USWNT and Japan in 2015 was the most-watched soccer game in US broadcast history. Yeah, let that sink in for a moment.

In fact, in the fiscal years 2016 and 2017, the USWNT will bring in significantly more revenue for the USSF than the USMNT.

Inexplicably, the USWNT players will make far less than their USMNT counterparts, despite the latter squad being ranked 30th in the world and coming terrifying close to elimination from World Cup Qualifying with a recent loss to Guatemala.

Need more numbers? Here’s what the USWNT said in its EEOC complaint:

Even more disturbing than the actual underlying facts was how the paltry pay the USWNT receives compared to the USMNT was dismissed by many as poor negotiating on the women’s part at the bargaining table. Such a sentiment became particularly notable former U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan weighed in:

Well, sure, until you consider how undervalued the USWNT appears to be by USSF, which completely skews the jumping off point for collective bargaining. And if you want to see exactly how differently the USSF regards these two teams, you only have to know that the USMNT players receive $5,000 per loss, while the women receive $1,350 for a win.

If that doesn’t gall you, take a look at the bonus structure for the World Cup:

The issue, as always, is deeper than just pay scale. The USWNT has been pointing out for some time now that they play on sub-par fields and are consistently relegated to hotels that a few notches below where the men stay.

The team even went to war with the USSF over the quality of their training table food.

Ultimately, no one is suggesting that the women’s international game has the storied history (yet) that the men’s game does. After all, the Women’s World Cup has only been in existence since 1991, and many countries have only just begun to field competitive women’s teams.

That said, it remains undeniable that in America, unlike most other countries, the women’s national team is more popular and profitable than the men’s national team. And it’s not as if the USMNT hasn’t had a chance to turn themselves into a competitive squad because they have. Decades of coaching hires, investments, and chances, far more than the women have had. And yet, depsite it all, it’s the USWNT who had demonstrated excellence and success.

The time has come to pay them like it.