Issue of Gender Pay Gap in Sports

Sports are Sports

 Life isn’t perfect, but could it ever be? Most people think it can get better but it can never be perfect, while some think life can eventually be perfect. Life with gender is tough for everyone, you have to live up to expectations and do things in the field of that gender. It’s horrible, in sports its the worst between men and females. Men get the upper hand, men get paid more but written by a sports writer from the New Yorker, Jackie MacMullan states that ¨with the money gaining from female athletes being what it is, women are discouraged from pursuing professional athletics.¨ For a long time women have been scandaled with their pay in sports and even jobs. Girls and women are constantly told they can’t do what boys can do when it comes to sports. Even though some sports men get major streaming from the world but that doesn’t prove the fact That they aren’t strong enough, tough enough, or good enough. Women’s rights in the sports industry have progressed but there are still many obstacles because of inequality of treatment and pay. Women are strong and talented, they put in the same amount of work in and they sacrifice the same things as any other professional athlete would, and they should be getting paid way more for all the stuff they put into sports just like men.

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 Women’s sports history started back in the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, golf , archery, tennis, skiing were the first sports introduced to women. These were appreciated to women in the upper class. The first time a women athlete participated in the modern Olympic Games was the second Olympic Games in 1900, that was a big impact to the women’s revolution of sports and that helped set the bar for women in sports industry. The bar wasn’t set as high as it was for men at the time because men have been playing sports since the early days. The first recorded ancient Olympic Games was in 760 BC,  a one event footrace. Later games included other events such as wrestling, javelin, boxing and jumping. During the same time, the only sport mentioned in the Bible was said to be wrestling. All of those sports listed above weren’t offered to women or played by women because they were considered “aggressive.” Then, being aggressive was man-like and not something for women to be apart of.

 Women and men sports have not been equal, not even in 2019. Men are able to play the aggressive role in sports, while women are criticized for not being “ladylike.” For example, Serena Williams a professional tennis player was criticized for arguing with referee Carlos Ramos for a violation call against her. The call was made because the referee believed Williams was illegally being coached from the stands. Williams was infuriated by the call because it is considered cheating when being coached from the stands and she insisted that she did not cheat. She told the director of the U.S. Open that men never receive punishment for their actions, and Williams felt as she deserved an apology because she does not cheat. Women get criticism for behavior in sports more than men and it is part of worlds views on how women are supposed to act. It is unfair that women in sports get treated differently than men because it is a step back from equality.

 Women do not get the same opportunities and same pay as men and that’s so crazy to me why there is such a big wage gap. Look at the NBA vs WNBA. Why does Damian Lillard make 41 million dollars for his NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Sparks very own Candace Parker, from the WNBA that most would know if you brought it up in common conversations on women’s basketball, gets paid 113,000 dollars. NBA referees make more than average WNBA players… The referees make 150,000 dollars while the average WNBA player makes 79,000. We need a difference. Women put in lots of work on the hardwood floor just like men, even more to be realistic. Women have to work harder because they are trying to prove a point to everyone. Female athletes boost up other female athletes to break stereotypes and go harder than ever. They are giving it their all, all of the time to prove a point that they deserve equality and to get the credit that any man would.

Women’s Soccer also has a big wage gap to men. The women’s USA soccer team have sued the United States Soccer Federation. Women on the team are being paid less than the men’s team, their getting less money then the men per game. Even throughout the years the women’s team has gained more revenue for the U.S. Soccer Federation, larger audiences, and played more games than the men’s team. The women’s national soccer team have also won three World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. Meanwhile the men’s team has only won 2 gold medals, and the last time they won the world cup was in 1930. I believe it is so unfair especially since the women bring in larger audiences and are a lot more successful. Female soccer athletes put their everything on the field every single time they play, even in practice or everytime they touch the field, just like every other female athlete they give their all, they have something to work and to stick up for.

 Another good example of gender in equality is Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey was an UFC champion in 2016 then later on signed to the WWE (wrestling) , and performs on the Raw brand. Rousey was the headliner at UFC 207 and She also reportedly collected $3 million just to turn up for her final UFC bout, with 1.1 million pay-per-view buys. She’s a successful women in the women’s sports industry but still doesn’t get paid as much as men. Conor Mcgregor was also a UFC champion but made $4 million for his last fight, Why? They’re both champions, holding belts and both doing the same thing, fighting to keep their titles. It’s unfair that she gets paid less under the same circumstances as him when people say their equally involved in the UFC world today. This shows that women are paid less in majority of the sports, not just one or two. A national thing that needs to change. 

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Women today have accomplished what people think would’ve never happened. Serena Williams total earnings is 18.1 million dollars, she earns 62,000 dollar prize money from tennis and 18 million off of endorsements. Serena has more than a dozen sponsors, including Nike, Lincoln, JPMorgan Chase, Beats, Gatorade and Intel. Only a number of athletes you can count on your hands  made more than Williams over the past 12 months from endorsements, and she made twice as much off the court as any other female athlete. Serena also produced her fashion collection in late May. After collections for Nike and HSN , this is her first solo compilation and includes denim, dresses and jackets. It’s great to hear about all her accomplishments and what she’s doing to improve it even more but Serena has set a bar for women athletes and proving to everyone that you can do it no matter what by just working hard, by knowing lots of things are unfair in this world today and trying your hardest to break that unfairness with everything you got. It’s something special to watch and be able to see first hand in history.

Women deserve to get paid more, not just saying they should just get paid more than men because people do understand there’s many factors to money gaining such as larger schedules, endorsements, audience viewing and etc, but they should get paid more for everything they do for their sport. They put in hard work and time into their sport just like men, they’re breaking the common stereotypes such as “women shouldn’t be playing aggressive sports” or  “women playing a tough sport isn’t lady-like.” Women do so much in this world and they deserve to be treated equally and fairly regardless from any stereotype or any opinion. They have dreams and desires on athletics so why can’t we treat pay the same for women and men, Women deserve a lot more than what they get but I know one day everything will be better, we just have to keep fighting and wanting it more than ever.

Work Cited:

• Badenhausen, Kurt. “The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2018.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 Aug. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/08/21/the-highest-paid-female-athletes-2018/#42b421c7405f.
• Hill, Selena. “TOP WNBA SALARIES VS. NBA SALARIES [2019 UPDATE].” Black Enterprise, Black Enterprise, 15 Apr. 2019, www.blackenterprise.com/top-wnba-nba-salaries-2019/.
• Zaccardi, Nick. “Serena Williams Loses to Naomi Osaka in U.S. Open Final after Umpire Spat.” OlympicTalk, NBC Sports, 10 Sept. 2018, olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/09/08/serena-williams-naomi-osaka-us-open-chair-umpire/.
• “The Evolution of Women’s Sports.” Ohio University, 20 Sept. 2018, onlinemasters.ohio.edu/blog/the-evolution-of-womens-sports/.
• “The Official Site of the WWE and UFC Champ.”
• Ronda Rousey, www.rondarousey.com/.