In girls’ sports activities, we often discuss identical pay. The focus is usually on how ladies make less than guys, the unfairness of the disparity despite the same amount of labor they put in, and the fact that lady athletes regularly must work full-time jobs on top of being full-time athletes.
The US girls’ soccer group has introduced communication to the leading edge over the past three years. After they received the World Cup in 2015, it was discovered that the United States girls’ crew had been paid 1 / 4 of what the guys earned. This matters if the ladies produce $20m more than the guys that year.
The ladies’ national team filed a wage discrimination act against US Soccer. In return, they received extensive enhancement, multiplied game bonuses, stepped forward according to Diem stipends, higher travel advantages, and greater financial resources for pregnant or adopting gamers.
But that turned into not sufficient.
In March, the women’s group filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against US Soccer. The media focused on the equal pay portion of the lawsuit; however, it left out other facets. One difficulty within the lawsuit is more vital than equal pay: the argument that the ladies’ crew isn’t always marketed or promoted as much as the guys, leading to decreased attendance and merchandise sales.
This point ought not to be omitted. In truth, it ought to be the headline, but writing, “Women’s soccer doesn’t receive as many marketing greenbacks” isn’t as interest-grabbing as “Women’s football crew, wildly more a success than the men, makes much less than half of what men earn.”
I have even written about identical pay quite a bit. Still, I am beginning to assume that my argument, while rooted in a choice for equality, becomes misguided. The problem isn’t identical pay. The difficulty is advertising, marketing, and promoting.
There is systematic sexism in sports that ends in unequal pay, which starts offevolved with how girls are advertised by way of their leagues. Let’s study the WNBA, whose marketing price range makes it tough to construct a fanbase – and consequently sales – to assist its athletes.
As Washington Mystics participant Elena Delle Donne stated last year: “We surely do not get promoted as our male counterparts do. Yes, I’m talking about the NBA. When you place millions of bucks into advertising athletes and permitting fans to get to know a participant, they develop a connection with someone or something you’re greatly engaged with and continue to want to peer/study extra. How will everybody get to realize me or any of my colleagues if we aren’t marketed as lots?”
The root of the trouble isn’t what women have become paid: it’s miles the shortage of basis they have to construct from to capitalize on their expertise. When we make the same pay the principal a part of the conversation, we miss all the smaller matters that enable a machine that hurts ladies’ development in sports and their possibility to generate identical sales. In return, they warrant the same pay. And while the advertising and marketing isn’t there, it offers ammo to the same old critics who say: “See? They don’t generate sufficient hobby.”
The USA Soccer Federation recently stated that the women’s crew generates less revenue from sport price tag sales, even though they’d “invested in advertising and promoting the USWNT.” US Soccer did not disclose how much it spent on advertising the girls in assessment to the men. An important part of the information had to decipher if they were seeking to generate real interest in the ladies’ recreation.
And it’s now not just the governing bodies that need to step up and provide extra money to sell ladies’ leagues. We also need to examine company sponsors. According to a 2018 Statista file, women’s sports activities obtain the best of 0.4% of total sponsorships. When we observe those numbers, how can we expect girls to have the price range to play games and gamers fully? Sure, same pay is a hot topic; however, in women’s sports, it’s irrelevant until we start searching on the hurdles set in location to keep girls from ever crossing the finish line.
The truth is that girls’ sports will not achieve parity if the limitations that preserve them in the trenches remain. We can speak about equal pay all we want, but it doesn’t count until we begin investing equally in how we market and sell these athletes.
