Equal pay
Introduction
The issue of equal pay among professional athletes is a subject that has spurred different views among people. Various research has been conducted to find out if the pay gap is justified or not. Ever since the development of interest in sports, society has had mind conditioning for rewarding and promoting male sports and athletes while undermining and cutting out female athletes. Most of the communities in the world have assigned gender roles to both sexes. Women are supposed to take care of their husbands and take care of their homes. Therefore, the gender pay gap is caused by the discrimination that society has against female athletes and sports. The bias is seen to start from high school and carried to the professional arena. For instance, in high school, the male sport is given preference during games and practice times. They are given the best fields and promotions. At the college and university level, male sports are advertised as the main competition events to attend. Discrimination is seen in sports stores and college bookstores, with the dominating male sports gear for sale. The salary that the male athletes receive in multi-millions per year shows the difference in pay with their female counterparts receiving about a hundredth. The range of pay gaps and discrepancies between the sportspersons of both genders is promoted by underlying social norms and values present and encouraged currently. The development in women's sports has shifted the views of society towards a more equitable direction. The underlying factors that make male athletes get paid more than their female athletes provided the basis for researchers to try and justify the pay gap among sportspersons of different genders. The paper will study if the gender pay gap between athletes is justifiable and how the other pay gap can be reduced for more equitable pay.
Discussion
Different sports have structures, benefits, and compensation methods that vary from other sports. However, an analysis of the five most popular sports in the USA shows that female athletes constantly earn less than males. In basketball, a male NBA player earns an average of $8,321,937, while a woman WNBA player earns an average of $75,181. Golf PGA player earns an average of $1,235,495 while LPGA $48,993. Tennis ATP male player earns $335,946 while WTA $283,635. Soccer MLS player earns $410,730 while women WSL $35,000 baseball MLB $4,031,549 and female NPF $6,000 (Global sports salaries, 2019). understand the differences in the pay gaps between the male and female genders. It is vital to know the money used to pay the athletes. Generally, athletes have different sources of income that come with the performance of their duties. The main sources of income for athletes include; basic salary, loyalty bonuses, the share of competition prize winning of the clubs, rewards related to a footballer's performance, earnings from image rights, and commercial sponsorships and deals. The size and amount that each athlete receives are also dependent on the individual's age, value, gender, previous success, potential, and social media followers.
The gender pay gap, therefore, is not without reason as the primary sources of earning for sports comes from fans, competition prize-winning, sponsorships, and broadcasting. In all these aspects, society has given male sports more attention and is metrics ahead of female sports. The average attendance of men premier league in 2019 was 38,168 (soccer stats, 2019). In the same year, the women's super league had an average attendance of 970 (BBCsports, 2019), which is 2.42% of the total premier league attendance, meaning that male sports pull more crowds than females. The average attendance of a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Emmanuel Pacquiao had in 2015 had an attendance of 16,219, according to the state of Nevada athletic commission 2015. even though. In between the 2016-2018 seasons, the USA women team earned an estimated $ 50.8 million in income from match days. The amount is more than what the US men team generated in the same period by over $900,000. The total excludes the figures from broadcasting, commercials, and prize money and does not include the fact that the women's team played 18 more matches during the same period. The high attendance of fans in male sports adds to the earnings of male athletes compared to female sports.
??????????? The other factor that leads to differences in annual pay differences between the male and female athletes is the number of views and broadcasters that pay to view the games. The social; conditioning on male sports means that most male sports have many viewers compared to female sports. Analysis shows that female sports are less popular than male sports. The 2010 world cup final between Spain and Netherlands had a viewership of 2.2 billion (FIFA, 2010). Compared to the female world cup of 2019 between the USA and Netherlands that had a total viewership of 263.62 million (FIFA, 2019). According to the sports index, the English premier league had a viewership of over 4.7 billion viewers in 2020, averaging 990,000 views per premier league match. The premier league is the most popular sport globally, sourced about $ 3.05 billion from broadcaster worldwide bidding for showing rights. Compared to the women's super company, whose broadcasting is not known as broadcasting rights are sold together with the FA competition. The exact figure for the women's super league is unknown as their broadcast rights are sold together with the men’s FA competition. The significant difference between the broadcasting and viewership in male and female sports is another factor that brings about the difference in pay gaps.
??????????? Another underlying factor that brings the difference in the pay gap is the difference between the prize money between male and female sports. For instance, the total revenue generated from the men’s world cup in 2018 was $ 6 billion from selling merchandise, broadcasting, ticket selling, and hospitality. On the other hand, revenues generated from the 2015 women's world Cup from broadcasting, merchandising, and commercials were $73Million. ?The level of the competition notwithstanding, male sports are more acceptable than female sports.
The popularity of male sports and the financial pull that comes with it from the entire population overwhelms female sports (The Wall Street Journal). With more interest from society, male athletes earn more from their image rights, and commercial sponsorships brought about by the number of social media followers than women. The highest-paid male athletes from support and image rights are Connor McGregor, who made $158 million outside of his fighting career over the last 12 months. The highest-paid female athlete over the same period, Naomi Osaka, received $34m in endorsements. This difference is almost five times what Mayweather earned in endorsements. (Forbes, 2021). With more money coming from sponsors and broadcasting to teams that perform well, Men's sports pay their players more to attract the best players and motivate individual performance to outperform their rivals.
??????????? Social media followers are another factor that determines an athlete’s pay. Many male athletes enjoy a large social media following owing to their popularity compared to female athletes. Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the most followed male athlete, generates $1.6 million per Instagram post due to his engagements more than those for most popular clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona (Forbes, 2020). The amount paid to the highest-follow female athletes is a fraction of what he earns. Lionel Messi was the highest-paid male footballer in 2019, making $141million on sponsorships and salary. However, Carli Lloyd, the highest-paid women footballer in the same year, earned $518,000, which is 272 times less than Messi made. (Goal.com ). The difference in social pay has sparked different reactions from different researchers. Different arguments promote equal pay between women and men in football, such as the Labor rights argument that champions equal pay for similar work. This argument bases on the identical amount of work that both males and females do in the field and the principle of Labor of paying both genders equal pay. Another argument is based on moral reasons and duties of repatriation. This argument is grounded in the natural history of many sports associations and national associations having a negative attitude towards female sports, therefore the pay gaps. (Alfred Archer et al., 2019). The increased awareness in female sports has led to campaigns that advocate for equal rights among all athletes. In March 2017, the USMNT women filed a federal complaint against the Equal Employment opportunity commission charging the USA soccer federation for discrimination in salaries and the alleged years of structured gender discrimination by their own governing body (Guardian Sport 2019). In addition, high-profile members amongst women athletes challenge the gender gap to pay under 'Equal Play, Equal pay. Most female athletes are within the idea that equal work requires equal pay. The underlying factors, however, are not in favor of their arguments.
Conclusion
Though the parallel pay gap between the male and female athlete’s players is a regrettable and harsh realization in the modern-day, the pay gap between male and female athletes is not a hazard that stands alone. On the contrary, it is justifiable by its popularity in demand and supported by other free-market forces vested with the right to choose and judge the most worthwhile causes. For instance, Companies sponsoring male athletes and clubs cannot be forced to invest equal amounts of money in men's and women's football image rights. Considering that sponsorships will pay an individual according to levels of interest and value the player will bring to the company. Clubs are not supposed to pay women and males equally from the revenue generated from the male teams. Women create a fraction of that, especially groups who play under the same name example, the Liverpool Men football club and Liverpool women's football club operate as separate entities. If women's sports depend on the men's teams for equality, then the long-life supporters of the game would lose interest in women's sports through such a move. It is essential to understand that they operate differently from entertainment, which generates various revenue and curiosity; therefore, equal pay should not be considered. It is impossible to attain the same income among male athletes because of the different factors among individual athletes. However, this shows that women's sports and athletes need more support and stimulation. As it stands currently, women's sports are mostly underfunded and ignored by many in society. Minimizing the pay gap between the male and female professional athletes would involve investment in women's sports. In addition, upgrading the coaching and training facilities of female sports would increase the quality of the game. The gender pay between female and male athletes will be reduced if shareholders invest more in changing the opinions of the public and society at large about sports. ?
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