Everything You Need to Know About the Pro-Athlete Gender Wage Gap

Image+via+The+Trinity+TriPod

Image via The Trinity TriPod

Sofiah Gravley, Writer

There has always been that big question. “Why do Female Pro-Athletes get paid less than men?” Let’s talk about it when comparing the NBA and WNBA.

Now some people may not understand that athletes are not only paid by their contract payment, but also by viewership. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, so it has some of the highest viewership. The 2021 NBA Playoffs had a total of 3.97 Million television viewers. That did not include the millions of people who bought tickets to go to the stadium to watch their teams play. In comparison to the 2020-2021 WNBA season, for the entire season, the total viewership was 357K television viewers. That is almost 10x lower than just the NBA playoffs, which also means the women’s pay was 10x lower. Now you know how a part of players’ salaries are added up, does this justify why women get paid less than men? Absolutely not, even though one sport will always be more popular than the other, it doesn’t excuse such a big gap. Female athletes have spent their lives living under men, always being perceived as lower than, or not strong enough.  As viewers, we are responsible for a cut of their pay, we pay the athletes with our viewership.

On regular contract salaries, the NBA averages out at about 8.32 million dollars per player signed. That makes about $3.67 billion dollars total in combined salaries. For example, Lebron James and Steph Curry are some of the most well-known players in the world. In this last season, James’ salary came out as $41.18 million, and Curry came out with $46 million. On the other side, Sue Bird, who is undoubtedly one of the most popular WNBA players in the world, her salary for 2021 came out to be $221,450 USD. She has 10 Olympic medals with 9 of them being gold. That is more than any women or men’s basketball player in history. Even with the title of being the most decorated female basketball player in the world, some people still don’t even know her name. The moment you say Lebron James, people know exactly who that is. 

The biggest argument when it comes to comparing women’s vs men’s sports is ‘What’s more fun to watch? It could be the sport, but it also depends on the viewer. Even if it depends on the viewer, there is still the ongoing issue that women’s sports are not advertised as often. They have worked just as hard or maybe even harder to get where they are. They deserve the same respect and to be treated equally. When that change happens, the world will change it’s perspective on women. It’s as easy as doing your part, go watch the girls too. Once this happens, they finally get paid what they deserve. The same as men, their hard work deserves a big paycheck. If you’re a female athlete out there, show your strength too. Show the world how capable you are. So again, taking your time to watch the female athletes can make even bigger changes in the world than you could imagine, and it gives them the pay they deserve.