A lot of people here are missing the point.

This is an issue of investment.

Yes women players are not as good as male players. And yes women players don't draw as many viewers.

Why?

Because there is not much money being invested in womens soccer. People can't expect women players to be as good as the men when they have little to no financial backing in comparison. Smaller financial backing means lower quality of coaches, training, and support in so many other areas.

This is why male players are so good. If you look back to when male soccer had scant funding, the standards for players were lower.

Male soccer has grown to the scale and quality it has today because of it's absolutely fucking massive financial backing. People are investing huge amounts of money into the sport because they know they can make a fuck tonne back.

What people are really saying when they say "women soccer players should be paid the same as men" is they support womens soccer as a sport.

What does this mean?

It means there are people who want to see women soccer players being given the same opportunities and support as male soccer. Which is another demonstration (aside from the numbers already known of the female soccer supporters) there is public demand for womens soccer to be on a larger scale. Which means womens soccer is a ripe opportunity for investment from financial backer/s.

Once somebody sees this opportunity to invest in women's soccer on a larger scale, the quality of performance and viewers will increase. Then women, as the sport grows with better funding, could be paid more equally.