BY HAILEY BROWN
Dating as far back as the dawn of modern humans, women have always been thought of as the lesser gender. Women in the past have worked in the kitchen rather than outside because they “can’t handle” the manual labor because they “aren’t strong enough.” Women have since proved their abilities, a great example being in the field of sports. Women have competed in the same sport with the same rules as men and have been very successful. So why are women still earning less?
In 2015, the Women’s National Soccer Team (WNT) had an average of 25,906 people attend each game, while the Men’s National Soccer Team had an average of 32,606 people, which is rather close. Although, the women are still feeling the discrimination in ways some people may not be aware of. In many sports women only make a fraction of what the men in that sport are making even if they have a more successful season.
According to an infographic by Adelphi University, the average salary for a player in the NBA is $4,500,000 while the average salary for a player in the WNBA is only $72,000. It is not a surprise that the NBA is generating a higher revenue than that of the WNBA, but it is the cut of that revenue that could be a little higher for the women. Soccer is another example. The average MLS salary is $207,831 while the maximum salary for women in the 2014 season was only $30,000. In the NWSL, players make as little as $6,000 a season.
One statistic mentioned in an article written for the Odyssey showed that after the WNT won the Women’s World Cup they only earned $2 million as a team, while the Men’s National Soccer Team (MNT) was eliminated in quarterfinals of the World Cup but still earned $9 million as a team. According to FIFA, as of the 2017 season, the MNT is ranked 27 while the WNT is number one. The women are bringing in more wins, more championships and more people, but not more money.
There is one sport where women actually make more money on average: tennis. Even though they make more on average, top females make about 54% less than top males. So women are not even making more in that case.
“I feel that it is very unfair that women do not receive the same pay as men. I know some may say that men have more intake because more people watch [them], but in the end we are all doing the same thing,” sophomore Kimberly Slinkosky said. “Women shouldn’t be treated differently and most of all paid differently considering the dedication we put into our sport is the same as men.”
When women are working just as hard and getting better results in their sports, there is no reason they should be getting less pay than men.
Photo courtesy of Robert Hay
