By Jessica Jimenez — Staff Writer
We live in a male-dominated sports industry.
For centuries, the lack of inclusion of women in sports is deeply rooted.
As women have been recognized in sports over the past few decades, the pay gap between professional male and female athletes is heavily visible and not just in sports but in other industries as well.
“In 2018, women earned 85% of what men earned” according to Pew Research.
Female athletes continue to fight for equal pay in their respective sports.
There is a shortage of equality in wages due to numerous internal and external factors.
This ranges from endorsement deals, media coverage, multi-year contracts and economic return which all play key roles in how female athletes’ incomes are affected.
It is the history of systemic sexism that runs through sport.
It is clear that male athletes have greater opportunities for sponsorship and endorsement deals.
Referring back to living in a male-dominated industry, they have been given the chance to create a more marketable presence.
Tennis, for example has been known to have an income disparity between male and female players.
The grand slam tournament Wimbledon was the last to present equal prize money, in 2007.
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic both have well over 70 titles to their name.
While Williams has more grand slam winnings and is in the same realm of ranking with Djokovic, he has a greater income.
According to business insider Williams pockets $88 million and Djokovic $132 million annually.
Even with endorsement deals, Djokovic is earning more than Williams.
She has nine sponsors and he six, but Djokovic makes five million more from these?
For a tennis superstar who receives great coverage, Williams should be making the same as her male counterparts, if not more.
It seems that there is a pattern in the industry that favors men over women.
Williams attracts an audience to her matches, trains hard giving her career everything she has and should be able to receive equal wages for the same amount of winnings as male players.
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has continuously been associated with fighting for gender equality and pay in their sport. In March, 28 players from the team filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for gender discrimination, mistreatment and not receiving equivalent pay according to New York Times .
As a leading force, the USWNT is a constant inspiration for young female athletes pushing them to get active and to pursue something they enjoy.
These professional female players are speaking up against an institution that has not treated the team as fairly as the men.
The ongoing financial strain of unequal payment has brought an unfair double-standard.
An article released by Forbes conveys that last summer in Russia, the french men’s national team won the FIFA World Cup earning a whopping $38 million.
This summer in France, the USWNT only earned four million.
Both of these teams coming in first place and amounting to great success shows the monetary hurdles the women’s team has to overcome– a history of being underfunded.
This oppressive pattern has extensively clamped down on the women’s game keeping them from having the opportunity to produce similar incomes.
From not receiving the recognition as women playing a sport “just for men,” to the USWNT team first kicking the ball together in the mid-80s to now playing on a larger scale; the women have overcome the lack of support and disregard for them competing.
The level of equality between the female and male teams should be the same on all facets such as marketing and promotion, leading to the generating of equal incomes.
As it goes for the WNBA, the women do not receive nearly as much media coverage as the NBA does.
The economic return of not selling out seats during games has hurt their salary because of the lack of coverage for their games.
This causes many players to compete internationally in the offseason to help boost their income.
The WNBA median salaries are just over $71,000 while the salary cap is $110,000 according to Forbes.
The difference is uncanny between female players and a famous, highly paid NBA player.
It makes sense as to why females would consider playing abroad, but with no downtime to rest they must continue to work even harder while still making less pay.
Seems unfair, but okay.
I can see why women in professional sports continue to have an ongoing fight about the pay disparity between the sexes.
The minimum base salary for professional NBA players is $582,000 and women are working for less than half of that.
The women realize the difference of scale between the WNBA and the disparity between contracts.
Females generally sign $426,000 contracts as opposed to males making multi-million dollar deals.
The NBA is fortunate enough to receive greater media coverage, television deals and sponsorships.
For the WNBA, without having such an immense opportunity as its’ male counterpart it is more difficult to produce revenue and attract people to their games therefore earning a lower wage.
This ties back to all-female teams bringing in limited investment into their sports.
With less investment, unequal treatment and not being afforded the same level playing field as male athletes links to arranged sexism in the games. Sexism has existed in sports for decades and it still goes to show the unequal treatment women face which is linked to the pressures of internal and external factors.
Once female athletes receive better marketing and promotion to help support their respective teams then they will generate a broader fanbase, creating more of a connection with fans.
In the meantime, we should support female athletes by attending games and matches and by simply being advocates for women in sports.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @jessicajim06