Gender Pay Gap In Sports

Most professional athletes earn up to millions of dollars per year. Well, most male professional athletes do. Women generally earn less — a lot less — than that. To what extent do we see this inequality? Where and in what sports do we see this manifested? Are women any less qualified than men to receive equal pay?

Basketball

According to a 2022 May piece from CBS, the average National Basketball Association player earns about $5.3 million a year, with the exception of stars like Stephen Curry and other famous players making up to $45.7 million. On the other hand, the average Women’s National Basketball Association player receives a salary of $130,000. That's a 5,170,000 million dollar difference. The difference grows to about $45,470,000 when comparing famous NBA players to famous WNBA players like Breanna Stewart, who only earns almost  $230,000. Despite the league having a “50-50” agreement between the NBA and WNBA on revenue split, there are still obvious differences. With such a significant pay inequality, the WNBA often has to travel to international games in order to increase their salaries to amounts that are still a large fraction less than the average male player’s salary. They are pushed to go to such extremes because the NBA is given all the recognition, fame, and appreciation. The WNBA is overlooked compared to the NBA in terms of media attention, building sponsors, and many other factors that contribute largely to the success of the team. Although the men’s team was established 25 years before the women’s, why hasn’t the league taken efforts to right the inequality?

Soccer

For years, the women’s US soccer team has lacked equal pay as well, despite generating more revenue for the US Soccer Federation than the men’s team. They have contributed to more than a third of the men’s team’s financial success (even after playing the same amount of games), and they have won four World Cup titles since 1991, while the men haven’t even qualified for semi-finals since 1930. Nonetheless, the women’s US soccer team did not allow this injustice to go unseen. After filing a lawsuit in 2019 and winning in May 2022 against the unequal pay and treatment, they received a $22 million payback, plus another $2,000,000 for each player’s post-career goals and endeavors, and of course, establishing equal pay for the women’s soccer team from then on. 

These two examples are only a glimpse to what the gender pay gap in the sports world is like. The list goes on: golf, tennis, softball, baseball, volleyball, etc. Women have been constantly underpaid, underestimated, and underrated in all career fields, not just sports. And while it is important to shine light on this injustice, we need to also push for change and advocate for a world without these inequalities.