Women athletes standing up for equal pay
For over two decades now, women pro athletes have been fighting for equal pay within their industry. In order to fully understand the gravity of this issue, we must first understand where it began. The first event that ever received the most publication was in 1970 when Billie Jean King spoke up about the tremendous wage gap at the Italian Open. To put this gap in perspective, Billie was awarded only $600 while her male counterpart known as Ilie Nastase was rewarded $3,500 (Lakritz). It was then that women playing sports around the world decided that change needed to occur. In 1972 Title IX was passed and started to allow for the increase of funding for female sports. Now for the Italian Open in 1972, Billie King was awarded $10,000 and Ilie Nastase was awarded $25,000. While this is still a tremendous gap, it was a small step in the right direction at the time.
The inequality in women’s sports has never been caused due to the lack of opportunity and participation. In fact the passing of Title IX was one of the greatest moments for women in sports. It allowed women the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions all the way from elementary schools to colleges. While today there is still a large movement to equal pay, Title IX is still intact today allowing little girls around the world to try all the sports that were once only dominated by males. Title IX was a notion that allowed males to finally realize that women are more than capable of doing tasks that were ‘solely’ made for them.
Today, the issue about the gender wage gap is still as important as it was in the 70s. Just three years ago, 28 members of the U.S Womens National Soccer League sued the U.S Soccer Federation for gender discrimination (McCoy). The USWNT believed that the structure was set up so that the men could make far much more money than the women. Once again to put this gap into perspective it’s important to note that women players made just 38% of what male players made. The lawsuit filed by the USWNT allowed for other great female athletes to advocate and speak up on the issue. We even heard from Billie Jean King who is still fighting for this issue: “Sports are a microcosm of society. What is happening with the USWNT is happening in the workplace”( ). This lawsuit finally allowed for women athletes around the world to build up the courage to reveal the inequality they have faced in their sport.
WNBA players have also finally spoken out about the pay discrepancy. The average salary of an NBA player is around $7 million whereas the WNBA is closer to $80,000 (Khatwani). With new regulations and motions being passed today for the wage gap, there still is a long way to go until pay is completely fair. In order to start change for the generations to come, women athletes today need to continue to use their voice and platform and speak out to keep introducing the issue to those who were unaware.
Khatwani, Shivam. “WNBA VS NBA: Salary, Revenue, Rules, Format, Game.” The SportsGrail, 19 Oct. 2021, www.thesportsgrail.com/wnba-vs-nba-salary-revenue-rules-format-game
Lakritz, Talia. “13 Athletes Who Have Fought for Equal Pay.” Insider, 26 Aug. 2021, www.insider.com/athletes-olympians-equal-pay-womens-sports#billie-jean-king-was-a-champion-of-equal-pay-in-womens-sports-in-the-1970s-1.
McCoy, Jenny. “13 Times Women in Sports Fought for Equality.” Glamour, 1 Apr. 2020, www.glamour.com/story/13-times-women-in-sports-fought-for-equality.
