Introduction to Women’s Sports
At a glance, women’s sport seems to be accelerating faster than ever in the direction of equal pay. In a 2021 report by the BBC, it was found that 90% of sports now offer the same prize money at their major championships, and stadiums for women’s games are being equipped in large sports such as football, tennis, and cricket. However, the reality is not that simple.
The State of Equal Pay in Sports
"Sport is ahead of all other sectors when it comes to equal pay and conditions," said Lombe Mwamba, Interim CEO of the Global Observatory for Gender Equality and Sport. Although there are only a few sports-specific data, the consensus is that elite female soccer players earn 15 to 25% of their male equivalents. While there are exceptions, such as tennis, which is moving towards equal prize money for men and women at all tournaments, the gaps are significant at the top of most sports.
Reasons for the Pay Gap
There are almost as many reasons for this as there are sports: the historical ban on women’s sports in many countries, lack of willingness to invest in them, a lack of professional paths, and maternity regulations. Perhaps most permanently, there is the perception that sport is for men, and there is only a commercial appetite for men’s sports.
Salary Floors and Basic Changes
Alex Culvin, a former footballer who now works for the Global Players Union Fifpro, said that comparing the salaries of top earners in sport concerns the equal wage argument as a disadvantage – it only deals with a tiny, distorted fragment of the picture. Culvin advocates for so-called salary floors in women’s play and an organic growth approach. These collective agreements, which are present in the top leagues in the USA, Great Britain, and Spain, work similarly to a minimum wage.
Conditions are Also Important
On the top level, the conditions for women are often significantly worse, even if the price or appearance is the same. "There are associations that carry out window dressing to say that they are an equal employer," said Culvin, referring to national teams that have compensated for match fees in recent years. "But everything else is unequal – how you travel, the facilities, or the level of the chef, and something like that. All factors that make it possible for the players are so different and unequal that the game fee is really almost irrelevant."
Political Climate Dark
Days after his return to office, US President Donald Trump made changes to the law that had numerous strands and prevented transgender athletes from participating in women’s events. Some see this as the first signs that he is decreasing under the banner of his deposition of the politics of diversity, justice, and inclusion (DEI) in the direction of reducing women’s sports.
Threats to Women’s Sports
The introduction of laws that are known as Title IX in 1972 and prohibit sexual discrimination in every state-funded educational environment led to an increase in women’s participation. This is generally recognized as having contributed to the priority of the USA in both the Women’s World Cup and the Olympic Games, the two largest sporting events in the world. However, a more existential threat to women’s sports comes from the sting of many countries, especially the United States, to political law.
Conclusion
Large events in large stadiums and the large gestures of large organizations undoubtedly have an impact – both on the games and the next generation. But on the international day for equal pay, it seems clear that sport has to make more efforts to counter structural and historical inequalities both in pay and conditions and to control global and local politics if it wants to approach parity closer to parity.
