The Face of Gender Inequality in Professional Sports

By Sabeeta Bidasie Singh

The Women’s US Soccer Team are four-time World Cup Champions compared to zero from the Men’s US Soccer team. (Richard Callis/FotoArena/Zuma)

Did you know that for women in professional sports it takes on average two years for them to earn what their male counterparts would in one year? There are some professional sports that women excel over men, however, the pay is not equal. For example, the U.S. women’s soccer team has won more gold medals than the men--and the team is globally ranked #1. Yet they are paid less than a third of what the men’s team makes. 

In basketball the pay margin is far worse, check this out – a female basketball player earns an average of $75k while the average pay for a male is much more substantial--six figures more substantial. The NBA justifies the pay gaps by explaining game revenues from larger audiences.

This inequality does not end with the wide gaps in earnings, let us think about media coverage for professional women’s sports. It is evident that male professional sports get 60% more media coverage further exaggerating the vast divergences. This undervaluing is contrasted in the excitement and the stories that amplify men’s sports, while women’s sports coverage is usually dull and monotone. I did a quick count of sports stories covered on a popular media, and men’s sports dominated the media by 80%. 

I believe this disrespect for female athletes is translated in their compensation and coverage, and I make a big call on the vested parties to do a better job in recognizing the contribution. Value the diversity women bring to sports.

Sports traditionally are revered for bringing people together despite race, age, gender, or background, and people will travel far and wide to support a good game or the team of their choice. A good example of this is the World Cup and the global audience it attracts. That being said, you don’t need to look hard to observe that this unity in sports is an imbalance where women are not evenly represented or supported. This is even more obvious in the distribution of prize money.

The highest paid WNBA players will receive a supermax salary of $215,000 compared to Steph Curry’s $40.2 million base salary. (Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)

I believe there is a fundamental cultural shift that is required to adjust this paradigm to creating greater opportunities for equality within sports. Looking at endorsements and sponsorships we need to understand the impact this has on dictating the attractiveness of a sport and whether we like it or not, sports is a business, it makes business decisions that are in their best interests, bottom lines. We need forward-moving brands to engage in meaningful conversations with sports teams to demonstrate their commitment to diversity in sports.

I believe just talking about the problem does nothing so we must go to the root of it to get a better understanding. The number of active professionals (females vs males) is not balanced. This can be traced to high school and later in college years. If there are not sufficient females being trained or exposed to sports in their younger years, then how can the gender divide be minimized. Females are detracted from professional sports because of the lack of financial attractiveness.

There is so much push for equal opportunities and gender equality to correct imbalances across so many areas, if we want to become a nation that embraces gender equality on every level then there needs to be a more honest, committed effort to promote gender balance in sports from the primary school years. This should be backed by school funding for these activities.

There is so much research that supports gender diversity as a competitive advantage for companies and I have already explained that sports are a business, so why is the promotion of gender balance and diversity not promoted? The traditional mindsets, gender stereotypes, and old misconceptions need to be broken.

It is clear in my head that women do not deserve to be overlooked in sports, and they should never be viewed as “less than”. We should have every opportunity to have fair and equal compensation and coverage. There is a debt that society owes to women in sports for the betrayal and inequalities women in sport have endured for decades.

Sabeeta is a culture writer for La Tonique. Follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.