Gender Pay Gap Phenomenon

“Who run the world? Girls”. A worldwide pop song sang by Beyoncé, which shows how powerful girls are. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the gender pay gap is: “Is a measure of the difference between men’s and women’s average earnings across an organization or the labor market. It is expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.” (2018). It is a current issue that all societies are experimenting, not only in economic or social areas but also in the domain of sports. The gender pay gap is an issue also in sports, and to fix this we need more than a few regulations. The gender pay gap is known and suffered by all women in many professional jobs and in this case, athletes also experience short shrifts.

Most of the people around the world have heard about this issue. It is an increasing issue during these days due to the gender equality fight. People, women, in fact, started to fight for the rights that should have been given long ago. One of those rights is the equal pay for men and women. Since women entered the labor market, they tried to be equal in all senses to men, not to be over anyone, just to have rights equality. But the hierarchical rules were against that equality fight. Nevertheless, nowadays it can be seen that this gap has reduced tremendously or at least trying to. “When occupations are segregated by gender, women get the short end of the stick. Occupations that are female dominated pay less than those that are male-dominated that require the same levels of education and experience” (Bornstein, 2018). Because of that, it creates a battle of sexes which is not the main objective of gender equality. But, this fact is undoubted, the businessman is the one who decides who gets the higher payment in a company, and so on women are affected by these regulations. In addition, the lack of regulation in this aspect is an evident issue that cannot be hidden just like the government hides everything. A worldwide issue needs the efforts of all governments and organizations to make it easier and bearable.

Alongside the gender pay gap, this matter can experiment in all jobs. And there is a very clear example: Sports. “Throughout history, professional female athletes have had limited opportunities compared to their male counterparts” (Campbell, 2017). According to a ranking made by Forbes in 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo was the best-paid player all over the world and it is not just because he is the best player, it is because he plays soccer in a very well-known team. Furthermore, Serena Williams is one of the best female tennis players occupied the 51st position in the same ranking. In the same ranking, Tiger woods, no matter what he does or how long he steps out of the limelight. Woods is the top-earning athlete on the 2013 Celebrity 100 list at No. 15 and with annual earnings of $78 million. On the other hand, in the ranking made by Forbes, Maria Sharapova, sits at No. 62 with $29 million in earnings. The contrast emerges in the annual ranking of this magazine because in the 2018’s ranking it has no women in its 100 list of best-paid athletes. Publicity plays a very important role here because sports brands are looking for male athletes than women ones, due to its popularity among the audience. In fact, the gender pay gap prejudice women no matter the age they have and in the payment of athletes is where more discrimination exists.

In soccer is where the wage gap is more notorious. Soccer which is played for men and women equally has the biggest gap in payments, and it is just because of the popularity each player has. There is no need to be an expert to know that for sure, the evidence is right in front people’s eyes. A very clear example of this is the amount of money that gets a male player and a female player in the same team. In a report made by the website of channel 13 “T13” presents the case of Neymar Jr. who started playing at Paris Saint Germain (PSG) last year and receives a salary of 35 billion dollars per year. An amount far from what Christiane Endler receives for being in the same team. The Chilean goalkeeper, who started playing for PSG in 2016 receives $25,000 dollars per year. The difference is awfully huge, and this is not because one is best than the other playing soccer, is just because of the popularity that each one has. Also, the USA women’s soccer team —three-time winners of the Women’s World Cup—have brought this topic into discussion. In this example, the girls, in their last World Cup, won $2 million dollars for their first-place finish. Even it is a significant amount, it is quite pale compared to the $35 million dollars that Germany awarded in the last FIFA’s World Cup in 2014. Statistics and empiric evidence are convincing, women get fewer payments in sports and mostly in soccer.

In conclusion, “recent research supports the conclusion that, no matter how finely you slice the data, there is a gender pay gap that remains” (Bornstein, 2018). In Chile as well as in other countries around the world the wage has been reduced in some areas, but there is one where the regulations are in debt: Soccer players. The government and the regulations they made are not helping women in this field, because the wage in sports has a tremendous amount. The popular sports are the ones that are played by men and due to this male players receive better payments. But this must change to have equality in all senses, gender equality is an issue that currently is becoming stronger. So, the solution is in the organization’s hands, to do something meaningful for all the athletes and to promote the fair game. It is time to pay an equitable payment for all, women deserve this once and for all.

Works Cited

1. Campbell, E. Q. (2017). Women in sports: 50 fearless athletes who played to win. Mango Media Inc.
2. Bornstein, S. (2018). The gender pay gap: An international perspective. Routledge.
3. Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2018). The gender pay gap. Retrieved from https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/gender-pay-gap
4. Forbes. (2017). The world's highest-paid athletes.
5. Forbes. (2018). The world's highest-paid athletes.
6. Liao, M. (2020). A survey of the gender pay gap in sports. Social Science Research Network.
7. Liu, Y. (2021). The gender pay gap in professional sports: A review of empirical research. Social Science Research Network.
8. Moses, M. (2019). Women's soccer and the gender pay gap: A critical analysis of the US Women's National Soccer Team. Societies, 9(4), 82.
9. T13. (2018). ¿Por qué la diferencia de sueldos entre Neymar y Endler en el PSG es tan abismal? Retrieved from https://www.t13.cl/noticia/deportest13/por-que-diferencia-sueldos-entre-neymar-y-endler-psg-es-tan-abismal
10. World Economic Forum. (2021). Global gender gap report 2021. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/gender-gap-2021-report-100-years-pay-equality.