Are female professional athletes being short changed?

A post by Shannon:

For many of us who work in the corporate world, we are familiar with the concept that we are remunerated in return for our effort and sometimes based on our performance (for example, commission payments). But it seems as though these are not the only factors that determine salaries for professional athletes.

I refer, of course, to the general imbalance between remuneration for male professional athletes compared to their female counterparts. It raises the question: should professional athletes be paid in recognition of their effort and performance? Or is the financial reward always going to be influenced by the popularity of the sport, and the participant.

Recently, Lance (Buddy) Franklin was reportedly offered a $12m six-year deal with the Greater Western Sydney AFL team, plus a healthy top up if he agreed to take on an Ambassadorial role with the club (Ralph: 2013). Franklin was to receive these payments irrespective of his own personal performance or that of the team. Compare this to the average wage paid to a netball player competing in the ANZ National Championship, which is just $21,800 per year, excluding sponsorship and endorsements (Partland: 2013). This example is just one of many that highlight the enormous gulf between salaries paid to male and female professional athletes.

Picture source: Wayne Ludbey

Wikipedia defines professional sports as ‘sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance’. Therefore, the athletes that compete in professional sports are classified as professional athletes. Note the use of the word ‘performance’ in this definition.

Most of the ANZ Championship netballers have now made the transition from semi-professionalism and are classified as professional athletes. While, on average, the salaries paid to the netballers are relatively meager, this transition provides another advantage. It frees up time, which may have previously been spent engaged in paid employment and can now be dedicated to training. Professional netball players are expected to train six to seven times per week (as well as match play), which is about double the effort that was required prior to the transition (ANON: 2011). In terms of effort, this puts the ANZ Championship netballers on par with their AFL or NRL compatriots.

Picture source: Sarah Green

The Australian women’s cricket team, the Southern Stars, is currently ranked number one in the world. They clearly outperformed the men’s cricket team, who returned home from England not long ago after a disappointing Ashes series. To reflect their status as ‘world beaters’, the top Australian female cricketers received a significant pay rise in May 2013, and now take home up to $80,000 per year (Jarvis: 2013). While this means that remuneration has more than doubled for the women, there is still a vast disparity between this and the current minimum wage of $230,000 for a male cricketer who is contracted to Cricket Australia (Partland: 2013). In terms of performance, not only do the women match the men, in some cases they even exceed them.

Picture source: Quinn Rooney 

So it seems that remuneration for professional athletes is significantly impacted by, and linked to, the popularity of a sport and the individual participants. And there is an argument that this should be the case. Sports is big business, and revenue in sport is driven by media exposure and ticket sales. Sponsors want to align themselves with, and advertise during the most popular sports. A report commissioned by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation showed that for every $100 spent on corporate sports related sponsorship, only 50 cents was invested in women only sports. Perhaps even more shockingly, the Australian Sports Commission’s 2010 report showed that only 9% of sports news coverage was dedicated to women’s sport – horse racing received more airtime! (Go: 2013).

From an equality viewpoint, female professional athletes absolutely deserve to be paid the same as the men. Women competing professionally in individual and team sports have demonstrated time and time again that they can match it with the men in terms of effort, and often outshine the men in terms of performance. However, commercially, they fall behind, and until this is rectified female athletes will always be paid significantly less than men.  

So, in order to increase remuneration for our women in sport, we need to increase the crowds and the sponsors. And in order to increase these two components, greater media exposure and attention is required. There is plenty to promote about women’s sport. By and large, female professional athletes portray a clean and rule abiding image. To date, none have been implicated in the ASADA peptides scandal that has infiltrated two major football leagues in Australia. None were embroiled in ‘Mad Monday’ celebrations that went awry. And none have had their contracts terminated due to binge drinking encounters.

While it is pleasing that Australia seems to be one of the more progressive nations in attempting to bridge the gap between remuneration for male compared to female professional athletes, there is still a long way to go. Until then, women will continue to participate in sports at a professional level, motivated by the love of competition and participation.

References:

Australian Sports Commission. <http://www.ausport.gov.au/>. Viewed 26/10/13.

ANON. 2011. Netball Australia. <http://www.netball.asn.au/extra.asp?ID=11676>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Brennan, Samantha. 2012. Equality Matters. <http://philosophyatwestern.typepad.com/equality_matters/2012/11/exploring-wage-inequality-in-professional-sports.html>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Coakley, J., Hallinan, C., Jackson, S., &amp; Mewett, P. (2009). Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies in Australia and New Zealand. Australia: McGraw Hill.

Go, Marina. 2013. Crikey. <http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/13/want-drug-free-athletes-give-womens-sport-a-go/>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Jarvis, Jo. 2013. ABC News. <http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3764229.htm?site=widebay>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Partland, Warren. 2013. The Advertiser. <http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/more-sports/australias-netballers-close-in-on-new-pay-deal/story-fnddcv23-1226625450624>. Viewed 26/10/13.

Ralph, Jon. 2013. Fox Sports News. <http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/hawthorn-believe-their-best-offer-for-lance-franklin-is-75-million-behind-gws-deal/story-e6frf3e3-1226667236486>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_athlete>. Viewed 03/11/13.

Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation. <http://www.wsff.org.uk/the-challenge/the-challenge-elite-sportswomen>. Viewed 26/10/13.