The biggest problem women in professional sports are facing is the pay gap due to gender. The United States women’s soccer team, who has a better overall record than United States men’s soccer, received a reward of $2 million when they won the 2015 World Cup. On the other hand, the US men’s team who won the World Cup in 2014 was rewarded $35 million. That is a 33-million-dollar difference between the two, all because women do not get the same coverage as men. Makes me wonder, if women got more coverage would they close that 33-million-dollar gap? If they did get the coverage they deserve, would they even have more viewers? Or are people biased towards women in sports?
That 33-million-dollar difference actually used to be more, so technically the gap has narrowed a bit more over recent years. In 2017 they are working towards making the prize money for the same sport for each gender equal. In 2017, 35 out of 44 professional sport are awarding the same amount of price money for each gender in that sport. People believe that women in 2017 are much more visible in sports than ever before. Honestly, I do not hear anything about women’s sports on social media or sports channels whatsoever. So, is that previous statement true? That statement was made in 2017, it is 2019 and I am still not hearing much about women’s sports in major sports media sites. Just because we are finally able to play the same sports professionally as men, does not mean we are getting paid the same.
My final question is, if women did get the same coverage as men for their sporting events would they even see a significant amount of profit?
Citation: Perasso, V. (2017, October 3). 100 Women: is the gender pay gap in sport really closing? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-41685042
Women Going Pro 