Recently, my friends have been obsessed with the ongoing World Cup qualifiers. Through all the commotion, I noticed that no women’s sports, be it soccer or otherwise, got mentioned once. With some research, I realized the problem extended beyond not hearing my friends talk about female sports.
Proportionality of Pay
In sports, female athletes earn a whopping 80 – 84% less than males, three times more than the 20% pay gap average. While women continue to train, compete, and dedicate themselves to their sports with the same discipline as their male counterparts, they are not only undervalued but face more than triple the average pay gaps worldwide. It’s an unjust reality, caused by a sector that under-advertises women’s sports, leading to lower revenues, and setting a precedent for unequal pay.
One of the major arguments to justify the wage gap explains how women’s sports generate less revenue than men’s. For instance, the WNBA league generates 200 million dollars in revenue compared to the 10.4 billion dollars the NBA does. I agree that it is unrealistic for women’s teams to provide the same pay for women and men. A 200 million dollar budget will never amount to that of a 10.4 billion one, which inevitably reflects in the wage gap. However, the key aspect is how, proportionally, the distribution of salaries remains unjust.
For example, following her official selection as the WNBA’s first draft pick, Caitlin Clark will receive $76,535 in compensation which is a lot less than the roughly $12.2 million paid to the NBA’s most recent No. 1 pick, Victor Wembanyama, of the San Antonio Spurs. While Caitlin will earn around 0.038% of what the WNBA generates, Victor will earn around 0.122% of the NBA’s worth.
While the NBA generates a significant amount of revenue compared to the WNBA, the distribution of the salaries is still different. Not only is it different, but even for those most valued players, it is significantly lower. Women players will never earn equal amounts of money as their male counterparts, however, it is an outrage that the pay has such different ratios within the men’s and women’s leagues.
Marketing Disadvantages
But what leads to this gap? From scheduling to overall advertising, women are underrepresented in sports marketing. For instance, when referring to other Olympic games, the OBS Chief Executive explained “The schedules of sporting events have traditionally been biased towards highlighting men’s events… Traditionally, in team sports, you have first women’s finals, and then the men’s final … In strength and combat sports, traditionally you have women’s competitions in the morning and men’s competitions in the afternoon.”
Not only does this scheduling make it harder for the general public to watch, as jobs tend to begin in the mornings and end in the afternoons, but it also drives more enthusiasm for men’s sports. These injustices lead to lower viewership and, hence lower revenues. When major international competitions like the Olympics deliberately underrepresented women’s sports, how can female athletes even compete for viewership? In addition to their training, and performance, are they expected to market their matches too? The underrepresentation of women demonstrates just how systemically unjust the pay gap between athletes is.
Precedent of Inequality
What does the lack of marketing lead to? A field in which unjust pay between men and women is warranted and considered the norm. For example, the US women’s team was only paid a fifth of what the men were after they won the World Cup in 2015. This was in spite of the fact that women made $20 million more in revenue than men that year. Regardless of the popularity and skill that the U.S. women’s soccer team displayed during the 2015 Cup, they were still left at a loss.
While I understand men having higher salaries, due to higher revenues, it is inexcusable that in the instances where female athletes attract more income, they are still treated less favorably. This is why the athletes filed a wage discrimination act against U.S. Soccer, and gained more equal pay only three years later. But it shouldn’t have taken lengthy legal action for the team to be treated equally. Nor should they have had to fight to receive better pay. The sour reality in athletics is that it is a system in which the unfair treatment of female athletes is allowed regardless of their performance or revenue.
Conclusion
While it might not always be financially possible for women’s leagues to pay as much as men’s leagues, differences in proportionate compensation, and the purposeful underrepresentation of women’s sports, all point to a larger problem of systemic inequalities. In contrast to male athletes, women are subjected to an unfair double standard that undervalues their dedication, talent, and accomplishments. More than a simple wage gap, the difference in salaries points to a sexist, outdated, and unjust field, where being a woman means being lesser than other human beings.
Featured Image: Courtesy of William Clarke College, 2023
