This week I'm going to cover the disgusting wage gap that exists between professional male and female athlete salaries, and next week I'll give you an impressive list of 14 super badass women who have paved the way for many others. From the 1920's, to a surprising number of bullshit limitations broken in the 1990's, to a 13 year old...there are so many amazing stories. But for now, set your gaze upon the bullshit in this table...
Average Athlete Compensation by GenderTop-Paid Female Athletes vs. Male Athletes
In 2012, boxer Floyd Mayweather made 103% more than tennis player Maria Sharapova. In 2022, little had changed: soccer star Lionel Messi made 87% more than tennis star Naomi Osaka.
(https://online.adelphi.edu/articles/male-female-sports-salary/)
- Women’s sports received an average share of 15% of media coverage in 2022.
- If coverage trends continue at this current rate of growth, women’s share of coverage should be close to 20% by 2025.
- Millennials represent roughly 30% of all sports fans - and 46% of this population turns to streaming platforms to watch sports events.
- As expected, women’s sports digital publication mentions and social media mentions both peaked during high-profile events such as the Olympics, FIFA Women’s World Cup, and March Madness.
- Women’s collegiate and professional sports combined for a total of 22,065 hours of streamed coverage in 2022, a 5,124 hours increase from 2021.
- Women’s basketball led the way in total linear TV coverage hours at 2,055, followed by soccer (1,835 hours), tennis (1,810 hours), softball (1,392 hours), and volleyball (1,001 hours).
"As noted in the Wasserman report, and across a variety of previous studies, women athletes tend to experience coverage that is not produced or marketed at the same standards as men. For the second straight year, ESPN has announced it will not be placing the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game in a primetime slot, instead opting for Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. EST. This decision by ESPN is surprising given the enormous success of the 2023 championship game. It averaged nearly 10 million viewers."
And not all coverage is created equal...(this really pisses me off)
"In addition, when women do receive coverage, previous research has uncovered high rates of objectification of women athletes and teams, with broadcasts utilizing fewer camera angles and commentators reflecting on the appearance, parental figures, and/or spouse/family involvement of women athletes rather than strictly on their athleticism and in-game play."
- Caitlin Clark jerseys sold out in an hour.
- NCAA Men's Championship Game - 14.8 Viewers
- NCAA Women's Championship Game -18.9 Viewers
- Women's attendance round 1 and 2- 292,456
- Men's attendance round 1 and 2 - 260,000
Basketball
"Every year since the Women’s National Basketball Association’s inaugural season in 1997, the highest-paid women’s basketball player has earned less than the lowest-paid National Basketball Association player. In the 1997-98 season, NBA rookies made 176% more than WNBA rookies. And while that gap narrowed slightly at the start of the 2010s to 172%, it widened again by the end of the decade to 182%."(Tobie posts the graphic)
James - Unfortunately they can’t pay women as much because the WNBA don’t bring in nowhere near the amount of money NBA teams do… Maybe that will change soon with all the new talent women’s basketball has nowadays!! And Caitlyn did sign a $10 million dollar deal with Nike and multimillion with Gatorade and some insurance company commercials and stuff as well so she’s definitely making PLENTY of money thanks to basketball.
James - CC gets her own signature shoe too! 13th WNBA player since Swoops was 1st in ‘95 in the WNBAs 27 years of existence
Jack - Apples/oranges
James... the "company" they work for has not turned a profit while the NBA has. That's why there is a pay disparity.
If I was the best computer programmer and worked for a Mom & Pop company I shouldn't expect to be paid as much as a programmer working for Google or IBM.
Katelyn -And then they’ll argue that the WNBA is “less viewed” therefore generating less revenue. But why do you think that is? Like hello?🙃
Whitney – My hope is that with people’s attention finally on the new players in the WNBA that people will start watching more, buying more game tickets, buying merch, etc… things that bring in the money to pay those women what they’re worth!
James - Whitney What do you think is good pay to play a sport you love to play everyday for a living?
(Thank you, James, for demonstrating what the modern Patriarchy sounds like. We are all just so grateful and we'll speak real nice to you and we'll add smiley faces to our arguments so we don't offend you. So grateful. Thanks. )
Soccer
More tables of horse shit(https://online.adelphi.edu/articles/male-female-sports-salary/)
In 2016, several high profile members of the women's national team filed a lawsuit regarding unequal pay. "The filing, citing figures from the USSF's 2015 financial report, says that despite the women's team generating nearly $20 million more revenue last year than the U.S. men's team, the women are paid almost four times less."
"The lengthy legal dispute dates back to a federal equal pay complaint filed by five high-profile members of the women's national team in 2016. (Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn They said each member of the women's team was paid thousands of dollars less than the men at nearly every level of competition.
Both the women’s and the men’s national teams are required to play 20 exhibition matches per year, but were compensated very differently as of March 2016. If the women were to lose all 20 games, they would be paid $72,000 but the men would earn $100,000 for the same record. If the women won all 20 exhibition games, they only had the potential to earn $99,000 while the men would earn an average of $263,320 for this achievement.
World Cup bonuses are also extremely unequal. The USWNT bonuses are as follows: $20,000 for 3rd place, $32,500 for 2nd place, $75,000 for 1st place. The men’s team earns the following bonuses: $52,083 for 3rd, $260,417 for 2nd, $390,625 for 1st. The pay structure for advancement is so disparate that the women’s national team was awarded $2 million for winning the 2015 World Cup, but the men’s team earned $9 million for failing to advance past the 2014 World Cup’s round of 16.
The female athletes are paid $3,000 for each sponsor appearance, less than the $3,750 earned by men. When traveling for camp, either domestically or internationally, the USWNT is paid less ($50 to $60 per diem) in daily allowance than the USMNT ($62.50 to $75 per diem).
The World Cup roster bonus for women was $30,000, just 44% of what the men were awarded at $68,750."
It was a complex lawsuit, with an appeal filed which ultimately led to a partial victory. They didn't get nearly as much as they asked for...only about 1/3, but it sets a hopeful precedent.
(https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/31/472522790/members-of-u-s-women-s-national-team-file-federal-equal-pay-complaint#)
Tennis
One headline sums up the bullshit on these courts: "Women’s Tennis Promises Equal Prize Money As Men’s Tennis By 2033". At the Italian open last month, men competed for $8.5 million while the women competed for $3.9 million, the New York Times reported, one of several major tournaments that pay players of different genders significantly different amounts.
The US Open has offered equal prize money since 1973. One stand out bridge in hundreds of gaps...
Fun facts: 1 in 8 men surveyed thought they could score at least one point against Serena Williams. Thank you, fragile masculinity, for your contribution to our statistics.
Serena's fastest serve was 128 MPH - her average is 106 MPH. (On average, MLB pitchers throw a fastball at a speed of 92.3 mph)
Fastest women’s serve was Georgina Garcia Perez 136.7
Legislation
A few weeks ago we talked at length about the Equal Rights Amendment and how, even though it has been ratified, it has not been added to the Constitution, and why that is such a big deal. In these post Roe days, we need our rights enshrined at the highest levels of government!
The landmark Equal Pay for Team USA Act (EPTUSA), which was signed into law in January 2023, requires that all athletes representing the United States in global athletic competitions, like the World Cup, Olympics & Paralympics, receive equal compensation and benefits in their sport, regardless of gender. It's a solid start, but far more is needed in every sector of American society to equalize men and women professionally.
So now that we're all good and pissed off...listen to part 1 of this podcast episode of Re-Feminist History