I’m going to start this blog post with a simple question: Should male and female sports stars be paid the same amount of money within their sport? To me the simple answer is yes of course! Male and female athletes train as hard as each other within their respective sports. Men and women are both able to represent their countries at the highest level. Female sports and sport stars offer a different form of entertainment to the more male dominated sports. Their goals of achievement are similar so why should their salary be different? Now I’m sure everyone will start shouting their own opinion which shows that the answer to the question is not as simple as you might think.
Tennis is a great example where male and female
competitors receive the same prize winning amounts. During the 2013 Australian
Open the winners of the men’s and ladies singles won $2.43 million (Heathcote,
2013), this equal prize giving continued throughout the various winning levels
of the competition to a total pool of $22.01 million for each competition. Wimbledon became the last of the four Grand
Slams (US, Australia, French, Wimbledon) to offer equal pay for men and women,
finally joining the ranks in 2007, just over four decades after the US first
initiated equal prize winnings(Handley, 2013).
On first reading this it sounds pretty fair but remember
that in tennis the difference in playing times has caused argument over whether
women should be paid the same as men. Yes men have a longer game of five sets
compared to women only playing three but that doesn’t necessarily mean the game
will always be longer. If there are two particularly strong female players
competing compared to a strong and weaker male the female game may last longer
as they are more competitive and if similarly skilled more difficult to gain
the points needed to win. A stronger vs weaker male game, though it is allowed
5 sets could be over in 3 straight sets, so the same length as a women’s game. In
this case equal pay is fair.
Continuing with this argument this difference in match
length could show that women are not strong enough to play five sets but since
they haven’t been given the opportunity to prove they can this theory is not
well met. Women should be given the opportunity to play five set games the same
as men to prove that they too can come back from being two sets down to win the
match. These are the exciting men’s games that people stay up to watch, it
takes great skill and mental strength to come back fighting from being down two
sets in a five set match. Women should be given this same chance to prove they
have the same stamina and skill that men have. Or should men’s matches be
shortened to three sets? This would also equal the time played for men and women
and the men might feel better about it as less effort to earn the same amount
of money. An interesting concept that I’m sure would trigger discussion!
Golf on the other hand is a sport where there are huge
differences in the amount of prize money men and women receive. The 2013 PGA Championships
had a prize pool of $8 million (Golf & Course, 2013) in comparison,
tournaments on the Ladies PGA circuit did not even come close to this amount, prize
money for the tournaments throughout the season varied between $1 million and
$3.25 million (LPGA, 2013), a far cry from the men’s game. Currently men’s
games are more popular and thus attract more sponsors which enables a higher
prize pool. Again is this fair on the ladies? Are men’s games more interesting
because they can hit the ball further than women? Women have as much skill and
talent as men do and train for their events just as hard and yet their games
and women’s sport in general are not as popular or seen to be as interesting so
lack support from sponsors.
The American NBA and WNBA also have quite staggering
differences in the salary between men and women despite the fact that they play
the same game. Looking at a list of player salaries for the various teams of
the NBA, player salaries have a wide range from a “lowly” $500,000 to the tens
of millions for one season (Hoopsworld, 2013). In comparison, women in the WNBA
have a much lower salary. Their maximum payout is $107,000 for the 2013 season
and only if they have been a member of the WNBA for 6 years. The minimum they
have to be paid for less than 3 years service is a piddling $37,950!!
(Examiner, 2013). This vastly differing salary range is again due to the fact
that the men’s basketball is highly anticipated, and watched by a lot more
people than the women’s, it is seen to be more exciting so thus attracts more
sponsors and media attention which allows the player’s salaries to be much
higher than the women’s.
So although there are some sports embracing equality in men’s
and women’s salaries or prize winnings, the majority of sports still have a
wide gap in the amount that professional men and women get paid for their
sport. It is important to acknowledge women’s sport and the impact it does have
on young girls even though it is not strongly represented through the media.
Women work just as hard at their sports as men do and despite the lack of media
attention and sponsors it is important that women are respected and in the
future work is done to ensure that a more even amount of money is paid to our
female sport stars.
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