Equal Pay For Equal Work In Women's Sports 

Women's equal pay in sports is a big argument in today's society. A reason why it is a big argument is because in some sports, for example, “The women’s national team actually generated more revenue than the men’s as well, according to new reports — $50.9 million between 2016 and 2018 compared to the men’s $49.9 million.”(Zublin) Womens sports in today's culture are very undervalued, like above is a perfect example of how undervalued the soccer team is. Statistically speaking the girls soccer team is winning a lot more games as well as championships. Some may think the girls would be receiving more money or at least as much as the guys are. In addition the WNBA which is the women's national basketball association maximum salary is drastically low compared to the NBA. For instance, “The maximum salary caps at $115,500 for veterans who’ve been in the league for at least six years. The average for the upcoming 2018 season, however, will be in the range of $79,000. In comparison, the starting salary for the NBA is about $560,000.”(Hill) Even though both are professional sports and both are covered on television the women's teams are still being paid a lot less. Which brings me to my next point. Another argument for why women's teams are not equal pay is because of the attendance. In particular, “The Philadelphia 76ers have the highest attendance in the league at 20,441 while the lowest attendance is owned by the Brooklyn Nets who average 14,941 in attendance.Attendance for the WNBA is the lowest it has been in league history. In 2018 the average attendance of a WNBA regular-season game was 6,768. Far below the historical league average of 7,400 attendees per game.”(Jope) Therefore, in professional men and womens basketball the difference in pay seems to be due to the attendance of games. All in all, women's sports are just simply underpaid because they work just as hard to get to the professional level as the men. Which is very significant in why many sport organizations do not have many women in management positions.

This is important to me because I feel as if the women in our society are given a bad rep not only in the sports world but in the real world as well. There are many times where in professional teams women apply for the job who are more than qualified for the job do not get the job because of their gender. According to CNN Sports writer Ahiza Garcia, “Men currently make up nearly 70% of the NFL's management staff. That's why the NFL expanded the Rooney Rule, which encourages minority hires, to include female hires at the executive level.”(Garcia) This may not seem very important to others, but it is important to girls who are interested in pursuing their dreams in sports. A reason why is girls who are pursuing this career realize it is harder to get a job being a women because many are looked down upon. Therefore with very little women in management careers it is slowly decreasing womens sports recognition. Which means the women's sports are not getting tv ratings or even ticket sales. In addition, women's teams are not bringing in the same amount of profit as the men to be able to pay women as much. Overall, the way women are not represented in many sports teams not just as athletes but as a coach and managers, it is decreasing the amount of female athletes because some think the better option is to pursue a new career. A reason why, some believe there is more money being made in other careers. Furthermore, if people start to realize women are fully capable and deserve a chance, it will increase the amount of girls who like sports to one continue playing, and two make women's sports more valuable which in the long run will increase women's pay in sports.

Furthermore, I want to write about equal pay for women in sports because not only do believe it is wrong but I feel like there's ways to increase their pay by doing certain things to organizations. My intended major is sports management which deals with all kinds of sports. So if women stop trying to get into sport jobs you will start to see sports management, and all women's sport teams start to fall apart because the numbers will be down. Also it will cut off womens sport teams television time because if the team doesn't have the numbers the channel will take them off and play something else so they don't lose money. All in all, it's common sense if women stop trying to pursue the sports world numbers will be all over the place. Which makes this paper so interesting to write about because there are many aspects of sports when you talk about women and the equal pay debate. In addition, there is a lot of research about the amount of women in management positions, just in the nfl alone who do not make nearly as much as men when both are in the same positions. Overall, there are many debates to defend why women should be paid more not just as athletes but as coaches and management. In addition, if women do get paid more equal pay or at least towards how much the men make I would almost guarantee a huge increase in organizations hiring women which will be great for my major and the future societies in general.

There are many questions which I would like to find out this semester with further research about this topic. One main question I would have is how many women just in america pursue sports then realize there is no future for them and just quit. I feel as if girls believe they can go pro work very hard but just get discouraged about the annual salary, and just leave sports overall which declines the number and numbers is money in the sports world. Another question would have to be what is the motif of not paying the equal amount to both men and women whom have established professional careers and worked probably just as hard if not harder. The reason why I wonder is because I go back to the U.S women's soccer team who in the last 9 years has won 157 games while the men's team only 85 games and yet for the last some odd years the women's teams are still not making as much as the guys. There are a lot of questions which could be answered by researching and looking deep down in this topic.