The gender equality debate is real! And while it may not be a man’s sporting world given the opportunities afforded to women in democratic societies, we live in an existence ruled and intrinsically rooted in the practicality of commerce and economics.
After all, sports is a business, plain and simple! However, therein lies the argument. Misogyny, an ugly term basically describing contempt for women, is often blamed for the current state of affairs that plagues their gloomy sporting reality.
While that notion certainly and rightfully, in some instances, swayed significant opinion in previous eras given the actual cultural and historical challenges faced by women in the pursuit of equal rights, the present-day application of the same argument loses some of its proverbial lustre against the weight and scrutiny of factual economics.
We dwell in an era that has witnessed the exponential growth of women’s sports, particularly in developed nations. This is where the gender equality argument is narrowed to the ‘Gender Pay Gap Debate’, a field of study that seems to require an ‘Einsteinesque’ rationale.
The numbers are there to be analyzed. No emotion or sentiment is required in this segment. Defenders of the Gender Pay Gap point to economics and not misogyny as the only reason that such a financial fissure exists between the two sexes.
The National Basketball Association (NBA), a multi-billion-dollar global phenomenon of American origin, makes roughly US$8 billion in profit annually. In comparison, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), which is actually owned by the NBA, loses circa US$10 million annually.
The women’s league is subsidized by the NBA and effectively only remains functional because of this endowment, which is termed by some as charity. Delving deeper, the average salary in the NBA is roughly US$8 million, with the WNBA coming in at just over US$120,000, which is a gargantuan difference.
Let’s turn our attention to football, the other major global sport. In terms of the biggest event, the FIFA World Cup, the men’s senior 2018 edition generated approximately US$6 billion, of which US$400 million went to the participants.
Comparatively, the women’s championship in 2019 generated US$131 million, with the participants being the beneficiaries of US$30 million [US$4 million to the winning team].
This actually translates to a higher percentage of overall revenue given to the women’s teams compared to the male version.
In the recently concluded 2023 edition, the total prize money increased to US$110 million, with the overall winner pocketing a combined package of US$10.5 million [$4.29 million to the team and $270,000 to each player]. Overall, the 2023 prize pool represents a 300% increase from the previous edition. This is also against the backdrop of prize money being available since the 2007 iteration.
Let’s go further. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) of America, the premier club league throughout CONCACAF, has a league player minimum for 2021 of US$22,000, with the maximum pegged at US$52,500. In comparison, the men’s equivalent, the MLS, has an average base salary for non-designated senior players of US$398,725 in 2021.
This is a common theme of the financial divide that exists in football among genders, whether at the international or club level.
Even the US Women’s National Team, the most successful programme in the history of the sport with four world cups [1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019] and as many gold medals [1996, 2004, 2008, 2012], lost their equal pay lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, as the judge agreed that they make cumulatively more than their male counterparts.
However, in a show of faith and commitment to equality, the United States Soccer Federation, the United States Women’s National Team Players Association, and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association inked an historic collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to ensure identical economic terms inclusive of competition compensation and commercial revenue sharing. The agreement, which runs until 2028, makes the US federation the first to equalize FIFA World Cup prize packages awarded to the respective senior programs.
Meanwhile, the English Premier League, the world’s most valuable club football tournament, has an average wage of US$79,000 per week, which equates to a figure of US$3,980,000 annually. Comparatively, the FA Women’s Super League starting salary package is approximately US$26,500, with established and senior players raking in roughly US$265,600 annually.
In terms of all sports, tennis has the lowest gender pay gap. On average, the numbers show that men earn US$4.8 million more than women annually, which translates to 34 percent more.
Despite all four majors—the Australian Open, US Open, French Open, and Wimbledon—opting since 2007 to pay equal prize money to both genders, as well as Masters events such as Indian Wells and Miami following suit, female players earn significantly less at women’s only tournaments in comparison to men’s only competitions of a similar nature.
Delving deeper and barring Grand Slam events, it is estimated that 395 million people watched Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) events and finals digitally. Comparatively, 973 million people are assessed to have viewed the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) competitions, the top-tier of sport organized for men.
Even in the world of combat sports, this occurrence is entrenched. An analysis of mixed martial arts, the fastest-growing sport in the world, indicates that women are paid on average US$15,442 per fight. In comparison, the men pocket US$39,088 per bout.
On average, experts estimate that women will only earn 61% of what their male counterparts will receive in 2020. Proponents of the economic argument maintain that most females are not as established in this arena, as the sport consistently and historically produces male stars.
According to SportsDaily, an online platform, Brazilian Amanda Nunes, the reigning UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion, is the highest female earner, with a base price of US$350,000 per fight without respective bonuses.
However, this is dwarfed by former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who is estimated to earn approximately US$3 million per fight without bonuses.
Another contention for equal rights proponents is that men’s sports are advertised significantly more than women’s disciplines, which clearly affects the latter’s eventual viewership.
However, this can be attributed strictly to business, as cable networks opt to promote any platform that is synonymous with large audiences; after all, more viewers translates to a financial windfall for the organization.
Similarly, the majority of the sports audience is male. This is also apparent for women’s sports, as the opposite gender comprises more than half the spectators for major leagues inclusive of basketball, cricket, and football (soccer). This phenomenon also applies to non-team disciplines such as tennis, boxing, and MMA.
Nations like Brazil, England, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia have also publicly committed and, in some respects, commenced providing equal pay to their national football teams through historic CBAs, a sign that some entities are more than willing to play their part in bridging the divide despite the financial reality and economic truth.
Even in Guyana, we have experienced a severe indifference towards women’s sports. Basketball, Cricket, Football, and Rugby, the four major team sports locally, have struggled for years to create, develop, expand, and sustain the growth of this particular facet.
This irrelevance of women’s development, which constantly occurs under the watch of administrators of associations, is, of course, influenced by cultural and societal undertones. In 2021, it was confirmed that the current GFF administration, the local governors of administration football, did not pay the Lady Jaguars women’s senior programme any match fees for years, which continued a policy of previous regimes.
During this period, the Golden Jaguars, the male counterparts, were afforded match fees despite being historically less successful. While the Lady Jaguars incident was eventually rectified, this serves as a simple example of the insignificance women’s sports can face, whether it be financial, as in the pay gap issue, or the general dereliction in providing structures for their development.
Once again, economics, at this time of life, comes to the forefront. Rather than play sports or see the utilization of the discipline as a possible avenue for an educational uprising, women tend to venture down the path of occupation or qualification. Parents are the major players in the aforesaid reality, as they possess a triviality to sports, given its lack of local structure and overall vision, a reality that has persisted for decades.
While the notion of sport, since its formal Greek origin in 776 BC, is based on pure meritocracy, the arguments going forward for gender equality, especially for nations in the Caribbean and Guyana, will have to emphasize an ideological narrative or perspective.
In what can be described as nothing short of progressive machination, the rightful concept of meritocracy will have to be tempered in the fight to provide a semblance of equality and/or equity for women in the sporting arena. It is the only way forward.
