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GENDER PAY DISPARITY IN SPORTS: HOW CAN WE MINIMIZE THE GAP?

By Kendall Jenkins on 2020-01-08 14:43:00

Although the pay difference spans across many industries world over, the disparity is far more extensive in sports. At least, tennis is hailed as the leading contributor in reducing considering the key athletics. At least, we can say that women get similar compensation as male colleagues in tennis. However, if you investigate further, the discrepancy emerges, and then you realize male tennis players earn almost twice as their counterparts according to the New York Times news. 

However, the difference is never as conspicuous as in other sports, like football, basketball, etc. Today, the most paid athletes are males pursuing their career in soccer. Notably, they are the best at the sport and deserve that pay. Nevertheless, if you consider the pay-for-performance analogy in the cases of national teams, the US women will outdo their men counterparts. For instance, the US Women National team won a combined seven major completions, yet nothing has changed regarding pay rise. 

Overall, the pay gap seems to be persistent problem that is never ending soon. The disparity is more blatant in the global competition, where losers in the round of 16 in men's category earn four times as women final winners. Unless the governing bodies and associated stakeholders intervene, the gap will even increase in the future. Perhaps, they should invent ways to generate more revenue, such as image and brand copyright; the same way authors use plagiarism checker free tools to copyright their work.

Major Contributors to the Pay Disparity

Several factors have contributed to the persistent lower remuneration ladies pursuing a career in sports. Perhaps, we can say the most contributors are lop-sided media exposure, sexism, fewer females occupying sports dockets in government, and disinterest. Other than those, women are naturally passive concerning strenuous physical activities like sports. Similarly, a larger percentage of those who are actively engaged in and love games are men. Unless drastic changes take place soon, women will remain at the lower end of the pay scale in sports. 

However much effort is channeled towards improving women sports; the fact is men's sports have immersed so much influence and interest from a broad audience. To change that fact will take decades unless something extraordinary happens. Since women's sports attract a lesser audience, it equally generates lower revenue, which reflects in the pay gap. Similarly, men games get more TV views that generates massive revenue for the sports industry. 

Therefore, why should women get equal pay while they cannot generate revenue similar to men's sports? Well, the aim should be to reduce the discrepancies to an acceptable level and shift fan perception. At least, the FIFA governing body can be trusted spearhead the revolution in sports for a better pay for women.

How Can Women Sports Become as Big as Men's Sports?

Probably, you might wonder why the sports industry should prioritize in revolutionary tactics to popularize women sports rather than profit maximization. Well, the solution may come from media coverage and considerable hype to spark interest from fans and sponsors. That would generate a colossal outburst of backing for women soccer and other sports. Consequently, they will manage to raise enough revenues to compensate ladies in athletics and help bridge the remuneration inequality. 

Notably, critics argue that the gender wage mismatch is straightforward math- the higher the revenue, the better the pay. Currently, lady's sports are receiving significant attention from fans, media, sponsors, and governing bodies. For instance, the FIFA president announced the next women world cup would feature 32 teams instead of 24 due to the massive following witnessed in the previous competition. That is just a tip of the iceberg of good things to follow in achieving equity in the remuneration of sportspersons. 

Therefore, media exposure and sponsors wield the potential influence the pursuit of transformation in gender recompense disparity. Recently, VISA announced that it would give 50% of its sponsorship deals to the US soccer women.  The only missing link is the commitment towards fulfilling equality is the support to enhance perception of women sports and push for the regulation of gender pay disparity.

What We Have Learnt about Pay Gap

Although there are many challenges facing women sports that determine their pay, it is possible to channel the right resources and effort into improving it. Our perception about the interest of women supports comes from the media: therefore, it should provide the focal point for those in charge to make women sports more exciting. After that, revenue will stream in from all sorts of sponsorship deals and television views. Notably, the last lady's world soccer game between Brazil and France attracted 59 million viewers. It was an incredible achievement given the perception on women sports.

In summary, the pay gap in sports is skewed in favor of men, and that may never go away any time soon. However, it is possible to address the problem if the sport's governing body engage everybody from the fans, players themselves, and media to the sponsors. If only the sponsors will realize their influence on games, then we would be able to direct more pressure on change for better pay for women.

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