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Gender Pay Gap in Sport Proves Work Still Needs to Be Done

Progress is being made towards equality in sport, but there's still a long way to go before that happens.

By Chloe HorswillPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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USA after winning the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

When is the one time that organisations can get away with not paying women the same amount of money as men for doing the exact same job? The answer: sport.

In recent years, women’s sport has grown in popularity and audiences are tuning in more often to see not only their major sporting events but tuning into weekly sports to watch them as well. So, as women’s sport becomes even more prominent, that age-old question has reared its head again.

Tennis has paved the wave for income equality by erasing the gender pay gap.

Serena Williams in Singapore

Tennis erased the gender pay gap in 2007 when all four major tournaments (the French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open) agreed to award all winners the same amount. This led to other athletes, the media, and sports fans to applaud tennis for their effort while urging more sports to do the same thing.

Obviously, the amount of money a player earns is based on how many major tournaments they win in that year, but the fact that both genders can earn the same tournament winnings reflects well as they led the fight to give women equal rights in their game.

In terms of overall earnings, there is still a lot of inequality. According to research, Roger Federer was the fourth-highest paid athlete in the world in 2017 due to his endorsement deals and tournament winnings. Serena Williams was 51st in that list, despite winning more tournaments that year. Companies often choose to have male athletes on their products instead of women which is something that damages women’s chances of equality, and unfortunately, this is something that the sport’s governing bodies have no control over.

Other sports still have a lot of work to do.

USA Women's soccer team

At least tennis has made a change. If you compare that to other major sports, like football/soccer, for example, it proves how far ahead they are in the sporting world. Football is one of the biggest sports in the world due to the number of fans that tune in to watch their team every week, and it is also one of the highest paying sports, for the men at least.

After winning the 2014 World Cup, Germany were awarded just under £25 million in prize money, with their opponents in the final, Argentina, winning around £17.8 million for coming second. That’s only a small portion of the money that FIFA paid out during the tournament as each of the 32 teams involved received a minimum fee of £6.7 million depending on when they were knocked out of the competition.

So, how was it split between the women’s teams? The USA won the tournament in 2015 and walked away with around £1.3 million after FIFA doubled the prize money won by Japan at the 2011 World Cup. Even though the winnings are still minuscule compared to the men’s, the significance of FIFA making the decision to increase it was important as they recognised the sport is becoming more popular.

The problem isn’t just at international level though, it occurs at all levels of the game. At the end of the 2016/17 season, Chelsea won the Premier League and earned over £150million (£38 million of which was prize money for winning the league). The other five teams in the top six also earned around £140 million each due to high-money TV deals.

If you then compare that to top women’s teams, there is a big difference. Chelsea won the FA Women’s Super League 1 in 2017 and were awarded £0 in prize money. Since the league was founded, none of the teams that lifted the trophy earned any winnings. Prize money is available in other competitions—the winners of the FA Cup earn £25,000—and that total has tripled in the last three years. It still doesn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of the men’s game though.

Are things improving for female athletes?

Tyler Wright

Yes, they are. Slowly. Research has shown that as of 2017, 83 percent of sports pay the same amount of prize money to both men and women. The sports offering equal pay aren’t necessarily major sports around the world (cricket and golf offer much more significant amounts of prize money to men over women) but in 2014, it was only 70 percent of sports that paid the same to both genders, which is an improvement.

There are even those rare moments when a female athlete outdoes her male counterpart as Tyler Wright, an Australian surfer, proved in October 2016. She won the World Surf League in a dominating fashion that saw her earn more money than John John Florence with one event still to go in her tournament. Like tennis, the WSL depends on winning more titles to earn more money, but Wright not only showed it was possible but also proved throughout the course of the tournament that she is just as talented as the men that competed.

Despite what major sports will lead us to believe, there are a lot of governing bodies improving their sports for the better by eliminating the gender pay gap, with others following in their footstep when they see how successful it has been. As more fans start tuning into women’s events, it is inevitable that more sports will allow men and women to be equals in their wages and until that day, sportswomen will not stop showcasing their talents and proving they are just as good as the men doing the same job as them.

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About the Creator

Chloe Horswill

Recent sports journalism graduate. Manchester United fan who also has a love for Harry Potter and Marvel and anything else film, book and TV related.

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