Perverse Gender Pay Gap Provision?

Everton Walker
Nov 6 · 6 min read

On 06 November 2019 the authorities overseeing football (soccer) in Australia made what appears to be a landmark announcement. The announcement was equal pay for athletes across the genders. Crudely, the gender pay gap dissolution can be described as equal pay for the top-earning female player and top-earning male player. Moreover, within the Australian professional ranks of football players, the lowest-earning female player would earn no less than the lowest-paid male player. This sounds like great news. Think about it, in football in Australia, there is at least one female player earning as much as any male player. And, there are no female players earning less than the lowest-paid male player. How then could this be perverse?

Matildas triumphant on the field of play. Now also triumphant in the field of pay.

Pooling Revenues and Giving Equal Split Across the Genders

The perversity may result from revenues from the globally competitive Australian female football team subsidizing a men’s football team that struggles to lay any claims to being globally competitive. Under the equal pay arrangements in Australia, earnings from the men’s game and women’s game will be pooled. A percentage of the aggregated pool will then be allocated to pay athletes. Female athletes and male athletes will then be paid “equally” from the designated percentage of that aggregated pool. Of course, the male team currently generates far more revenue, at least according to World Cup prize money. But is that about to change?

Equality Under the Sun, Regardless of Gender

Furthermore, off-field benefits will be equalized across female football players and male football players. Female players will now enjoy benefits such as business class flights, a privilege which has long been available to male players, but which was previously unavailable to female players. Perversity seems even more puzzling, doesn’t it?

Why the Pay-Gap Termination May Be Perverse

The upshot is, female football is a growing game. The Matilda’s — an affectionate reference to the Aussie female football team — are a top-flight global team.

Just Does Not Stack Up!

On the other hand, while the male game is the most popular sport in the world, the male game is mature. Within that mature game, the Socceroos, as the Australian male football team is affectionately known, are, at best, at the bottom of the upper echelons of global football. To fix ideas, think about the upper echelons of global football as teams that consistently qualify for the FIFA Football World Cup.

Mature Men’s Game, With Prize Money Revenue Growth Trending Down

The maturity of the male game is succinctly captured by an increase of less than 90% in total prize money over the eight-year period between 2010 and 2018. In contrast, over the four-year period 1986 to 1990, when the tournament was hosted in Mexico and Germany respectively, the prize money more than doubled, jumping from USD $26 million to USD $54 million. That is, the growth rate of revenues available to countries participating in the male Football World Cup has slowed significantly. Actually, prize money to be paid to the participating countries is projected to grow from USD $400 million in 2018 to USD $440 million in 2022, a mere 10%.

Fair Play or Foul Play?

The Socceroos are considered bottom of the upper echelons because every four years, the men’s team may or may not qualify for the World Cup. And, if they qualify, it is almost guaranteed that they’ll not make it out of the first round of the World Cup.

In contrast, the Australian female football team is almost always a shoo in for the Women’s World Cup. Indeed, their place in the World Cup Semi-finals, if not the Finals, is almost guaranteed. Clearly, this gives the Australian women a more favorable competitive brand, and brand position, in the global game. A global game which we must now re-brand as the King (and Queen) of sports.

Growing Women’s Game and Greater Female Revenues Projected

With a growing women’s game and the Matildas being a global powerhouse, revenues generated by the Matildas may soon outstrip that earned by the Socceroos. This may sound far-fetched as the last male World Cup split USD $400 million between 32 teams, while the female world cup split approximately USD $30 million between 24 teams. The women’s World Cup winners’ prize money doubled in each of the periods 2011–2015 and 2015–2019. As at 05 July 2019, FIFA President Infantino suggested that the 2023 prize money will again be doubled. Since the time President Infantino spoke, both the US women’s team and the Australian women’s team have had significant pay gap victories on their domestic soil. Clearly, the equal pay pressure and result by both the Australian women’s team and the US women’s team will put upward pressure on the projected increase in prize money. Obviously, the at least 100 per cent increase in the women’s prize money far outstrips the measly 10 per cent growth projected in male prize money.

Furthermore, female sports are becoming more attractive to both fans and broadcasters. This is likely to result in more buttocks in stadium seats and more broadcasting rights revenues. In this setting, the strategy involving a pool and equal split of funds across the genders, in the context of more revenue from the female game, as forecast, may result in female athletes subsidizing male football players. The perversity in this outcome is a tale of two tales.

Are Men Helping Women Now, And Women Will Help Men Later?

Pay It Forward.

Firstly, the tale used to be that female athletes are not paid as much as male athletes because female sports do not generate as much revenue as male sports. The second tale is, we are eliminating the gender pay gap by allowing equal pay across the genders. However, in the case of football in Australia, female athletes will soon generate more revenue than males. And this is the time we choose to declare equal pay across the genders. In fairness to the males, I guess it can be said that currently they are still generating more revenues. As such, if the pay gap is to be removed, now is the time to do it, though this may still be late. Better late than never, isn’t it?

Change Is Gonna Come.

Is it doubly perverse that when males generated more revenue this was the rationale for underpaying women? Doubly perverse because now that female athletes are almost certainly going to generate more revenue in the near future, we simply say, equal pay for men and women. Can we find a sport where the men’s team is globally competitive, the women’s team is at the bottom of the global pile, and there is equal pay across the genders?

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