Bobby Rigg Research Paper

This on-running issue over unequal pay between men and women in the same area of work is sadly something that is not new in the 21st century. It has been around for as long as women entered the same field as men and has yet to be fixed. Now, when the problem is looked at in professional sports, there is no difference. No matter if both teams have an equally successful season, or if one triumphs over the other, it is always the guys who get the big bucks while the girls are given a significantly smaller amount. Just take a look at the U.S women 's soccer team who had just won the 2015 world cup not too long ago. One of international soccer 's most prestigious events, the team was awarded a nice amount of two million dollars. However, the U.S men’s soccer team on the other hand was given nine millions dollars, and they had lost in the midst of round 16 of their tournament. In what way, shape, or form is this fair? In an article by Scott Stump for Today News, he acknowledges the major victories that the USWNT (U.S Women’s National Team) has achieved, and what little the men have done in comparison. Stump states, “The women also shattered ratings records for soccer games in America with a record 26.7 million tuning in to watch them beat Japan in the World Cup final. The women have won three straight Olympic gold medals as well as three World Cup titles overall, while

Gender inequality in professional tennis is a real and alarming issue, from the pay gap between mens' and womens' tennis players to the low media coverage of women's professional tennis. This issue even goes as far as how differently tennis commentators discuss and analyze mens tennis as opposed to how they discuss and analyze womens tennis. When commentators discuss men's tennis they solely focus on the skill of the players, but when they discuss women's tennis they place more importance on the appearance of the female players, rather than their skill. This instance of gender inequality in professional tennis is further exacerbated by the differences in advertisements for male tennis players and female tennis players. The advertisements involving male tennis players display their athleticism and tennis abilities, whereas the advertisements including female tennis players are appearance-focused, with the females often wearing little clothing. This is corroborated by the popular belief that focusing on the physical appearance of female athletes is the only way in which generating money from women's professional sports is distinctly possible (Fink, 2015, p. 338). Female professional tennis players train just as hard as the men do, thus the gender inequality that exists in the sport is not necessarily a result of how women perform on the court. It is rather a result of how society perceives women playing in professional sports overall, which the mass media is partially to blame

“Equal play. Equal pay.” –U.S. Women’s National Team (Reiher). The gender pay gap is surprisingly still a large problem today. Not only in soccer, but in every sport women exert the most effort, yet they do not receive the credit. The U.S. Woman’s National Team should receive an equal amount of pay as the men’s team because they have won more titles, they are better soccer players, and they bring in more income.

Lopiano complains that there’s too much of a salaries gap between man and women playing the same sports. “The right to play has been established. However, the issue that has been confronted is the barrier to being treated equally when it comes to money” (Lopiano 1). Most people will say women’s tennis matches are more exciting than men’s matches; men’s victory purses are still considerably higher than women’s victory purses. Top women tennis players earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. The average total purse was $63,031,000.00 for top men players and $41,000,000.00 for top women players (Daniel Frankl 2). In soccer, the Women’s World Cup soccer team was promised $12,500 if they won compared to the $300,000 male players were to receive. The payout for women players was increased to $50,000 because fans protested the unfair payout gap between the male and female players (Lopiano 1); it’s still 1/6 the payout

In the Journal “Sport and Society: Annual Review of Sociology” written by Robert E. Washington and David Karen they talk about gender and sports in one section of their Journal. In this section the author addresses masculinity in sports and the attempts of Title IX to try and make sports equal in the sense that if women make up 40% of the athlete population they should receive 40% of the resources. However, this is not the case “The most recent data (Suggs 2000) reveal that in 1998–1999 women made up 42% of Division I athletes, received 42% of scholarship monies, 31% of recruiting budgets, 34% of coaching-salary budgets, and 33% of total operating expenses. According to Andrew Zimbalist (2000:B9), women “still play in inferior facilities, stay in lower-caliber hotels on the road, eat in cheaper restaurants, benefit from smaller promotional budgets, and have fewer assistant coaches.” (Washington and Karen, 2001) This long quote showcases that although women are starting to get what they deserve when it comes to a the percentage of Athletics that they comprise it is still not up to par. Although it is not technically salary, the gap in scholarship money and money spent of faculty for female athletes showcases how money it’s sports always goes to the male athletes no matter at what level. In a more recent example that further pushes the points that were made in Washington and Karen’s journal would be the U.S. Women’s Soccer team compared to the U.S. Men’s Soccer team. Both

Equality between people is what makes the United States of America different from other nations. Ironically, in the United States professional soccer leagues there is a dearth of gender equality. This can be seen through the gender difference in salary. In 2013, professional women soccer players were yearly being paid $15,000 each, about nine times less than the men earned (Bloomberg BusinessWeek). Just like the United States, Australia also faces unequal pay between men and women in professional soccer. Many professional women soccer players that can’t support themselves off their salary. This not only makes the players want to quit, but also makes future generations not want to take part in women’s soccer. Sadly, for more than two decades, women soccer players have experienced unequal pay. Over the years, many players have to find another job to support themselves or they quit playing soccer. Leaders of the Women’s Professional Soccer League have made fruitless attempts to resolve this problem, by giving women the same amount of tournament prize money as the men’s team, by raising the women’s salary a few thousand dollars, and by obtaining sponsors for the women’s soccer league. The way to fix the inequality within professional soccer in the United States is to give equal pay to both genders. To accomplish that, the leaders/board members from both the Men’s Soccer League and the National Women’s Soccer League would have the men soccer players’ salary will be lowered to

When a men’s teams win a game, they receive so much money per game for their program, but the women’s team do not make any money when they win games in tournaments. Andrew Zimbalist admits, “The total value of a victory in the men’s tournament is approximately $1.56 million. By contrast, a win in the women’s tournament brings a reward of exactly zero dollars” (1). If the male athletes are going to give money to the winner of the men’s tournament, there should as well be money given to the winner in the women’s tournament as well. It does not make sense that one would receive so much money for their program when the other can also win and bring no money back for their program. To me, this shows that people think the women’s tournament is not as important as the men’s tournament. People tend to think that the men’s team is better because the men are stronger and faster, but women’s games can be just as entertaining as the men’s

King was one of the best tennis players ever, male or female. One of the biggest matches King played in was the “Battle of the Sexes” against Bobby Riggs. This match was played on September 20, 1973. “The “Battle of the Sexes” turned King into arguably the first superstar female athlete in the United States’ (“Billie”). She was known around the world after this match, “30,492 fans squeezed into the Houston Astrodome to witness the so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” while an estimated 90 million people worldwide watched on television” (“Billie”). Bobby Riggs was a great tennis player who often made sexist comments about women. He said, “women belong in the bedroom and kitchen, in that order”, and he declared, “women play about 25 percent as good as men, so they should get about 25 percent of the money men get” (“Billie”). Before the “Battle of the Sexes”, “Riggs hyped the contest with a slew of misogynistic comments, including that “the best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot,” and said King could not win because women did not have “the emotional stability” to play (Gittings). The first time Riggs asked to play, King declined him. When King agreed to play him, she beat him 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 (Gittings). After winning the “Battle of the Sexes,” King used her platform to fight for “equal rights and opportunities for boys and girls, men and women…That's the way I want the world to look: men and women working together, championing each other, helping each other, promoting each other -- we're all in this world together” (Gittings). She knew that if she was ever #1 in tennis she would use it to fight for equal rights even from a young age. She used her power to help others that lived in her time and the future generations. In the same year Kings defeated Riggs, she

A tennis match known as the “Battle of the Sexes” began Billie Jean’s King influence in finding equality for men and women in sports. This was a match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Riggs was the top male tennis player when he was in his prime, and he believed that he would have no problem winning the match, because he deemed that a woman could not beat a man. Through this match, Billie Jean King challenged the fact that men and women could not play against each other in sports.

“Once you accept that everyone is different, you can change the face of inequality.” Billie Jean “Moffitt” King was from Long Beach, California. *She was born on November 22, 1943, and started playing tennis based on her parents’ suggestion at age 11*, when she was looking for a more “ladylike” sport (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2014). Billy Jean King created a forward standard movement towards inequality in women’s tennis, was a women’s rights activist, and proved that women have the same capabilities as men. (Great Women in Sports, 2009).

“The US Open was the first major Grand Slam to offer equal pay for men and women in 1973, after women’s champion Billie Jean King threatened to organize a boycott of the tournament” (Shuster). Billie Jean King has been an advocate for equality from a young age due, in part, to the fact that growing up she was discriminated against at tennis clubs because her parents did not have a great deal of money. Even though many people at the clubs disliked King, she excelled, started to play in major tournaments and quickly earned her place in women’s professional tennis. King’s most famous match was titled the “Battle of the Sexes” because she played the outspoken male chauvinist, Bobby Riggs. When King beat Riggs, she created a defining moment in

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

That same year, Roger Federer won the men’s championship game against American Andy Roddick in straight sets, collecting $1.13 million in prize money. But, his female counterpart, Williams won only $1.08 million. After Venus speech at the All England Club, the women’s championship prize money was increased, according to ESPN W, but still did not match the men’s award. A question was asked in the year 2006 of why the pay gap persisted in the face of increasing criticism, the club chairman , Tim Phillips, justified the prize discrepancy saying the physical demands of the men’s best of five matches are much higher than those of the women’s best of three. The club didn’t view the prize as an “equal rights issue”. The top ten ladies last year earned more from Wimbledon than the top 10 men did by playing in the double tournaments. Venus is a superior athlete, a legend but she is also an activist who revolutionized her sport off the court with her fight for prize equality. People thought this story shouldn’t be regulated to dusty history books and British newspapers. People in the United States should know of her true professional bravery and personal tenacity in making sure women athletes are regarded and rewarded on par with their male counterparts. This was Williams’s mission.

Another athlete who took a political stance was Billie-Jean King, who fought for equal gender rights in sport. On September 20, 1973 Billie- Jean King took on men’s champion Bobby Riggs in a battle of the sexes tennis match. Riggs was known for criticizing women’s sports and female athletes . King stated, “I just had to play, Title IX (the ban on gender discrimination in federally funded educational program) had just passed, and I wanted to change the hearts and minds of people to match the legislation” . King beat Riggs in three straight sets, inspiring female athletes across the globe to break gender barriers.

A huge injustice happening in the workplace is how differently men and women are treated. Women have always been obstructed in society, but as of late that has changed right? Many of us have been taught to believe that women are now treated as equals, but in reality that is not how it works. Women are still oppressed at every corner. They are getting paid less to do the same job as men, getting lower starting positions, and getting promoted less. A great example of this pay deduction for women is how Serena Williams, the greatest women’s professional tennis player of all time gets paid significantly less than Roger Federer when they were both number one in the world. Even though in 2015 while they were both rank one, Serena won almost double the amount of tournaments and has the same sponsorship