The Importance Of Equal Pay, Rights And Opportunity For Women Involved With Sports

This quote was acquired from LET'S EQUAL THE PLAYING FIELD FOR WOMEN IN SPORT by author Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, her quote is tremendously impactful to readers because it displays how much change there has been for female athletes throughout the generations. However, Mlambo-Ngcuka mentions there still is not equal pay for women succeeding enormously in their respected sports. As female athletes are still being belittled and underpaid (Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2015). This academic journal examines the growing topic of women earning significantly less than men in professional sports. Mlambo-Ngcuka attempts to asserts her opinion on the reader of this growing problem. In doing so, Mlambo-Ngcuka educates the reader on the amount changes that have taken place for women (Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2015). She shows how it could be possible to have equal pay for female athletes due to the success women have had in society prior past. “Similarly, even though progress has been made, women remain underrepresented in the leadership positions of sporting organizations, sport outfitters and marketers” (Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2015). Although Mlambo-Ngcuka mentions the several positives women have achieved. Her purpose is to exhibit to the reader that there is still a lot of work to be done for female athletes. As women have made a lot of progress through the years due to many advocates such as Mlambo- Ngcuka

While participation of women in sports has increased, the media representation of women in sports remains problematic. Even the most talented elite female athletes like Michelle Kwan and Monica Seles are portrayed in a sexual fashion, as a way of deemphasizing their athleticism and neutralizing any possible threat they might seem to pose to male viewers. Very few male athletes are portrayed in such an objectified manner; they are portrayed as competitors first and foremost, not as personalities. Also, the media coverage of athletes is disproportionately focused on male athletes. The coverage of female athletes tends to stress individualized female sports where women can be sexualized like tennis and figure skating, versus competitive team sports like basketball and soccer.

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

“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

When it comes to sports men and women are rarely given equal opportunities to excel. This is the case in soccer specifically, as many individuals over look women’s soccer. Women are having to play on turf fields which is causing more injuries compared to men playing on natural grass. Men also make more money per match and they receive money if they lose, whereas the women do not receive any money if they lose a match. While women are becoming more successful, the men’s team has been around longer and bring in more media coverage and endorsements for the league. Despite the discrepancies found in media coverage of both teams, the US soccer federation and Federation International Football Association should provide equal opportunities for both men’s and women’s soccer teams.

From a young age, children are conditioned to always think about what they want to be when they grow up. Many of them dream to be a ballerina, firefighter, or an astronaut. With age comes maturity, and those aspirations pass, but simultaneously new, more realistic ones arise. To reach these new goals, these children work toward their dream through dedication, which can be seen in the studying or training they do. In today’s society females have more opportunity to do what they dream. There are young women who are assiduously working to get a college degree and a steady job. Then, there are also women who are training to become a professional athlete, with the aspiration of becoming a member of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT). In today’s society, women can pursue their goals, however, if compared to men’s sports, there can be differences seen that keep women from reaching full potential, equality, and their dreams.

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

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

Women’s professional soccer players should receive equal pay to men’s professional soccer players. Right now, women’s soccer players earn much less than their male counterparts, both from their official salaries as well as corporate sponsorships (Palmer, 2015). This is still true even after just under 23 million Americans watched the U.S. Women’s National Team’s victory in 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final against Japan, setting a record for the most watched soccer game in U.S. history (Palmer, 2015). While the U.S. Women’s National Team, who have played in numerous FIFA Women’s World Cups, have subsidized salaries, and some high-profile players have endorsements deals, their salaries are low for professional athletes, which is a serious deterrent to players starting, and staying, in the game (Johnson,

“The USA women’s national team are demanding equal pay. Is it realistic?” by Beau Dure, is an informative article written with the purpose to tell the reader the facts in the debate over equal pay between men’s and women’s soccer. Dure emphasizes the pay gap and supports the claim of there being one with several sub-claims. He does not simply say that there is a gap, he tells

There is no denying that the U.S. women’s soccer team was discriminated. From our secondary research, it was noted that the pay disparity between women players and men players is unjustified (Futterman, 2016). We observed that the U.S. Women’s National Team has achieved a lot in comparison to their male counterparts in international tournaments in the recent past (Das, 2016). In addition, the women’s soccer team draws in a greater following than the U.S. Men’s National Team. Subsequently, there is no justification for the inequality salary to the U.S. women soccer players. We found it intriguing that despite the fact that they bring a lot of revenue to the country, it still occurred. Cases like this have been common across the world, and the

Continuing to develop the women’s game in the UK (and elsewhere for that matter) might be the most effective way of ensuring that girls and women have opportunities to play football but Tamburrini’s (2000, 126) suggestion that ‘the movement of the most talented women into men’s competitions would have devastating effects for female sports’. Women still suffer significant inequality, which already restricts their participation and performance in sport. At the same time, if the best women can compete against men, then the FA should not prevent them from doing so as the most able female players will inevitably choose to play with and against men. Providing opportunities for female players to compete with males would help draw attention to the fact that there is an overlap between male and female performance and that some women can outperform most men. The football community is ready to accept this as Kane (1995, 213) states, ‘it time for the FA to give up its mantra that the safety of female players and the fairness of competition mean that women cannot compete with or against

Marketisation and commoditisation provide leverage for powerful nations to assert their dominance over their sport competitors by, for instance, buying their best athletes from the dominated countries and sometimes offering those athletes citizenship. There are instances when international corporate entities sponsor and own clubs in other countries, make all management decisions, and secure profits which they return to their home countries thereby leaving host countries further impoverished (Nauright 2012:54).The above global pattern has not favored most womens’ national and local teams as most corporate entities prefer to sponsor national mens’ teams. Both the commodification and corporatization of sport reduce especially womens’