It says something that the USWNT basically got kicked out of court before the case even began, and the side that won STILL handled it so badly that there have been multiple resignations.
No... The issue isn’t that they mentioned why we have separate teams, rather they explained it in a manner that made the women seem inferior and therefore deserved to be paid less.
Not to mention that USSF's legal strategy on equal skill and ability came precisely from a case that was argued in the same district court back in the 90s. Stanley v. UCLA. There aren't many cases on point out there about equal pay and sports and this is one of the closest. It was ruled in favor of the school that there was no discrimination because they paid the woman's basketball coach less than the men's. The difference in skill, ability, and responsibility came up in that case. Again, that was the 90s, and lawyers can rightfully argue this to a judge, but public opinion and PR is another matter. But the plain language of the Equal Pay Act and the aforementioned case is clear. It's a viable strategy. Just watch out for the counter-punches.
I hope you're not suggesting that if the men and women's senior teams played a series of matches, the women would win about half? We have a women's team because we want to encourage female participation in the sport and they wouldn't make it if we banned gender apartheid and threw everyone into a single pool. Same reason we separate youth teams by age. If the U-17s won their WC, does anyone think they should get compensated like France's team?