Gender Pay Gap in Professional Sports

By Heath K.

There is a lot of unfair sexism that is happening in sports because people think women have a different body build and that women can’t do sports as well as men. Yet, these reasons don’t make sense and are not fair to different genders. Gender-segregated sports have many problems so there should be more uni-gender sports.

Just because you are a woman shouldn't mean that you get paid significantly less if you are a professional athlete. For example, women get paid less than a third of the men’s World Cup prize money, according to ESPN. This is a problem that has been going on ever since the Women’s World Cup existed and is still going on to this day. However the Women’s World Cup prize has risen in recent years, which is good, but it is still a lot less than the men's World Cup winnings.

The World Cup isn’t the only sport that is segregated by gender. It is ok that there is a separated category for men and women, but it is not ok that one gets a better prize than the other. One of the main sports where gender is separated is basketball. Although the WNBA is frequently watched, there is still an enormous salary gap between the NBA and the WNBA, according to Basket News. The WNBA maximum amount of salary for an individual player is $221,450 while the NBA maximum amount of salary for an individual player is around $50M. This is a large gap and needs to be fixed.

However, it isn't an easy fix; it’s much more complicated than that. The fact that women’s sports aren't as watched as men’s sports means that they don't generate the revenue at the same rate. But it doesn't mean they aren't working and playing at top levels. Both women and men professionals are equal in work ethic and drive. 

One possible way to lessen the pay gap would be to introduce uni-gender sports. This means that we could make it possible for women to play with men in some sports. Another way to fix this problem is to just promote women’s sport in general.

Although it seems like we have to just sit and watch, we can take a stand and help break the pay gap in gender-segregated sports to strive for equity for women professional athletes. Hopefully some time women will get just as much as men, and there will be more uni-gender leagues in all the sports.