Breaking the Gender Barrier in Sports: Addressing the Pay Gap

In this work, we will talk about 'Gender Pay Gap in Sports Essay', which in my opinion is very relevant in our time. The issue is not the difference in equal pay, the issue is marketing and promotion of women’s sports to generate revenue. The interest in women’s sports is still growing and they need adequate budgets for marketing and promotion. It begins with how women are marketed in their own leagues and their countries national teams. The international women’s soccer league is a good example of that. “According to a letter released Monday by U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro, the federation has paid out $34.1 million in salary and game bonuses to the women as opposed to $26.4 million paid to the men. Those figures do not include benefits received only by the women, like health care”. In defense for the women’s soccer in America, the salaries for all the players that are in playing in the league are included in the $34.1 million.

After the World Cup final when the United States won against the Netherlands the crowd chanted: “Equal pay! Equal pay!”. This is easier said than done, because there are multiple factors involved that can lead to equal pay. U.S Soccer Foundation who decides how much money goes to the women’s national team and men’s national team cannot just give equal salaries if the revenues are not the same. Both the men’s and women agree to their pay scales every few years. During the past few years the women have become frustrated with their pay because they have brought in more revenue to US soccer than men. It is not as easy as just giving the men and women equal pay because their salaries are not based just on national team revenue, you also a must take into account professional salaries. The women understand the National Women’s Soccer League cannot pay the same as the Major-League Soccer because they do not get the same revenue. However, if we are strictly talking about national team pay then the men and women generate almost the same amount of money. Revenues are you getting from marketers and promoters, and the facts are that women athletes are not as much promoted as men, that leads to less revenue for women sports.

The next generation of female athletes are taking notice of the problem concerning equal pay. These young females do not have a voice, but they are doing what they can to bring awareness to the issue. In regards to this issue co-captain Carli Lloyd said, “in light of our team’s unparalleled success on the field, it’s a shame that we still are fighting for treatment that reflects our achievements and contributions to the sport. We have made progress in narrowing the gender pay gap, however progress does not mean that we will stop working to realize our legal rights and make equality a reality for our sport”. Carli Lloyd is being a voice and role model to the younger generation of female athletes.

The U.S Women’s National Team sued U.S Soccer Foundation for gender discrimination. U.S Soccer Foundation in their defense came out with a statement saying that the women’s team generates less revenue from game tickets, although they had invested in promoting the US women’s national team. U.S Soccer did not show any numbers to support that claim so it is debatable if what U.S Soccer says is true. In one of the most recent articles posted by ESPN it says that in the three-year span from 2016 to 2018 the women generated around $50.8 million in revenue compared to the men’s $49.9 million. These numbers are misleading, because the men average higher attendance and higher ticket prices than the women, but the women have played more games which leads to more revenue. The women’s team needs to advertise more, play more games, and win more games to break-even with the men’s team. The women’s national team in 2019 alone played in 24 games and won 20. In this span of 24 games they scored 77 goals while only allowing 16 goals. They also won the World Cup four times, which is the most in any women’s team worldwide. The only reason why the women’s national is generating more money is because they qualified for the World Cup and won. It is obvious that men would generate more revenue and therefore be paid more than the women if they qualified for the World Cup. This is because they get a larger bonus and bigger sponsorships.

Members of the U.S women’s national team brought a lawsuit against U.S Soccer. This trial starts May 5th, 2020 and will last four to five days. The US women are making a federal claim under the equal pay act to justify equal pay. The plaintiffs filed a motion on September 9th requesting the court to certify the players as a class. Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, and Becky Sauerbrunn would be appointed as class representatives. The argument the US women’s national team used for getting certified as a class is that it is not only about the 28 players on the roster, but about any woman who had appeared on the national team, even when it was years ago. The argument being used by the women in the lawsuit is that they are required to perform the same job duties that require equal skill, effort, and responsibilities performed under comparable working conditions as the males. Because of the on-field success of the women’s national team they have spent more time practicing, travelling, participating in media sessions, and playing more games between 2015 and 2018. The US women’s national team has played in 19 more games than the men between 2015 and 2018. For participating and winning a friendly match the women can make a maximum of $4,950 per game while the men would earn $13,166 per game. By those numbers’ women are only earning 38 percent of the men’s salary. After these claims of the women United States Soccer Federation filed an opposing claim that states Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Carli Lloyd all earn more than the highest paid men’s national team members. However, most of their earnings are coming from endorsements and not directly from the US Soccer Federation. US Soccer Federation is trying to put a spotlight on the most popular players on the US national team to take away the seriousness of the issue. The US Soccer Federation does not just practice gender discrimination based on pay, but also playing, training and travel conditions, and marketing for their games is much less than the men’s team. For example, the women’s team has played more matches on artificial turf than the men’s team. This playing service can lead to significant injuries to the lower body, such as knee and ankle injuries. The US Soccer Federation does not announce women’s national team with enough notice to allow for maximum attendance and does not market their games to the extent to the men’s game.

Women in sports are also fighting for equal pay since the women’s soccer team brought the issue to a national level. For example, Women’s National Basketball Association does not have the marketing budget to build a fan base. Without a marketing budget, it makes it difficult for teams to build a fan base that can generate revenue to support its athletes. Washington Mystics player Elena Delle Donne said last year, “We absolutely do not get promoted as our male counterparts do. When you put money into marketing athletes, fans will get to know you and develop a connection”. When you cannot connect with fans in your city it makes it hard for people to become interested in women’s basketball. Elena Delle Donne also stated, “how is anyone going to get to know me or any of my colleagues if we are not marketed as much?”. The WNBA players often look to supplement their income by playing abroad in the offseason. This often comes with increased risk of injuries due to lack of recovery time in between seasons. The WNBA players made a statement that says they do not expect to paid as much as their NBA counterparts, but they do not think they are being paid what they are worth. We make equal pay the center of attention, but forget to talk about the smaller things that creates a system that hurts women in sports and a change of equal pay.

For tennis the fight for equal pay started in 1973. This is remarkable because during the 1970s people were not concerned or talking about women’s sports. Billie Jean King was one of the first women to fight for equal pay. King was a world-ranked, number one tennis player who wanted to show the public the discriminatory culture of sports. Billie Jean King said, “Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs, and I want women to have the cake, the icing and the cherry on top too” it takes a lot of courage to make a claim like this in a time period where women sports are not respected like they are today. The U.S Open became the first large tournament to award equal prize money to both men and women. King agreed to played against Robert Riggs, who was an American tennis champion. King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to win. After the match King said, “I think the press was a bit surprised to hear me say that I was not playing the game to prove that women could beat men,” King said “I was playing to prove that men and women had the same entertainment value, which is why we should be paid equally.” As of today, tennis is one of the few sports where men and women get paid equally for winning championships.

Like mentioned earlier in the paper, multiple sports are persuading for equal since the US women’s national team (soccer) sued a lawsuit against U.S Soccer. The US women’s hockey team is one of those sports. The women’s team won its first gold medal since 1998 in 2018 at the winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The women’s team threatened to sit out the International Ice Hockey Federation World Cup Championships unless USA Hockey agreed to give them equal treatment. US women’s team were demanding for the same equipment, publicity, staff, and travel as their male counterparts, according to CNN. Hockey player Jocelyne Lamoureux said, “We got what we thought was fair and what they were providing for the men. We are really proud of that and we are really happy with the agreement we came to with USA Hockey. It is surprising that women’s teams are not provided with the same equipment. They are professional athletes and deserve to be treated as such. When it comes to salary the women’s team need a second or even a third job besides playing hockey on a professional level to make enough money to live from. This reminds me off professional soccer in the Netherlands. If you play soccer as a professional athlete your salary lays between 700 and 2,300 euros per month. You can barely live from that kind of money, so a lot of athletes have a job or study besides playing professional soccer. It is hard to combine soccer with work or a study. I know a lot of people who quit soccer because they did not see any future benefits. It is disappointing to see that woman are giving up on their dream and love for the game.

Earlier this year Adidas announced that they will pay their athletes on the winning World Cup team the same bonus payments as the men. This means that Adidas sponsored athlete on the winning World Cup team. They will be paid the same regardless of their gender. Other companies are also working to lessen the pay gap between men and women sports. Before the World Cup a business called LUNA, Bar made $718,750 donation to the US Women’s team that was directed to the women’s salary. After the World Cup, multiple companies donated money toward the US national team, one of them was Secret Deodorant. They donated $23,000 to each of the 23 players on the World Cup roster. It makes wonder if they are advertising their own brand or that they are really concerned about the pay gap. Many companies are most likely taking advantage of the cultural moment to create opportunities for their company. Nike sponsored more than half of the teams at the Women’s World Cup and after the tournament they released a commercial about the struggle women face in sports. However, Nike was recently accused of cutting female athletes’ sponsorships when they are pregnant and forcing them to return to their sport right away. The commercial Nike released could be an example of taking advantage of the cultural moment.

The interest in women’s soccer is huge and is still growing till this day. In Sweden there are around 100,000 licensed female soccer players over the age of fifteen. Even though soccer is the fast-growing sport in most countries, the differences are still significant. We are talking about inconvenient training times, locations, and financial matters. This issue starts early on when little kids start to play soccer at an amateur level. The same experience happened to me when I started to play soccer at an amateur club in the Netherlands. They wanted to put me in a girls’ soccer group at the age of 11 (when I started to play soccer). I told my dad that I would quit soccer immediately is that would happen, because with all respect to the girls, they were not good and I would not learn anything from them. After multiple attempts my soccer club agreed with us and put me in a boys’ team. Nilla Fischer is talking about the problems a lot of girls go through early on in their sports careers. Nilla Fischer a Swedish international and champions league winner won the “Diamontbollen”, this is a really important award in Swedish sports. Fischer decided to raise her voice and address the issues we face as a community. We practice the same sport – why don’t we have the same possibilities?” she asks rhetorically. “We need to take action and show the world that we don’t make a difference between boys and girls who want to play soccer. All sports need to be inclusive.” The gender discrimination in sports at a young age is something that needs to be talked about, because it slows the girl’s development in their respective sport. What some people are wondering is why men are not speaking up about this issue. Is it because of their ego’s or is it because it is just not their issue? You see a lot of women raise their voice about these issues, but did you ever see a guy stand up for equal rights and equal pay?

The inequalities in women’s sports are not just on professional level, but the college level too. Although, college athletes are not paid it is obvious that universities and colleges put more money and effort into their men sports teams. It is a fact that men’s sports bring in money and women’s sports do not bring in nearly as much. An example is our football team at Western Carolina University who plays against University of Alabama at the end of the season. Even though they most likely will not win they will still be paid a large amount of money to play. This money is put directly in the athletic department. This is a normal occurrence when a power 5 football team plays a smaller school. It is normal for college athletes to receive clothing and shoes that represent their sport. However, it is apparent that generally men’s teams receive more than women. Here at Western Carolina University men’s athletics such as baseball and basketball receive much more than other sports. The soccer team receives cleats, practice gear and one travel shirt but that is about it. We need pay out of pocket if we want to buy more soccer apparel. When it comes to travelling, we are usually with three people in one hotel room. The women’s sports are not getting paid to anywhere. There is not enough money for women’s sports.

The issue is not the difference in equal pay, the issue is marketing and promotion of women’s sports to generate revenue. A lot of companies are lessening the pay gap after the Women’s World Cup in 2019. The question remains if the companies actually cares about the current issue or that they are trying to get a good image for the consumers. Women’s basketball, soccer, hockey, and tennis were facing the same struggles with the pay gap. Tennis got equality quickly because they started their movement for equal pay in 1973. The gap is bigger in soccer because men’s soccer is much larger and has been around longer than women. However, the US Women are able to fight for equal pay because the US respects the women’s team more than the men’s team because of their international success. Women’s hockey is not as popular as men’s hockey and the women do not have as many opportunities to play professionally. Almost all the women hockey players have a second job or even third job to support themselves. There are not a lot of marketers and sponsors to support the women’s hockey leagues. The same is true to women’s basketball. They should be paid like professional athletes but because of the lack marketing, sponsorships, and support they are not able to built a fanbase large enough to generate revenue from ticket and jersey sales. I think that we are making large strides to narrow the pay gap and the inequalities seen in women’s sports.

References

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