Gender Pay Gap for Women Athletes

1565 Words4 Pages

Traditionally men have dominated the world of sports however in recent year’s women’s sports have become popular and with their new found popularity, women’s sports have evolved into marketable leagues of their own. Although women’s sports took a huge leap forward, women players still don’t receive the same financial compensation for playing the same sports in the same arenas as their male counterparts. In Purse Snatching by Donna Lopiano, she points out sexism may have a huge effect on this financial discrepancy between women and men athletes. Analyzing sports economics may point to a different reason why women are receiving such a compensation disparity.

Women sports have come a long way, since the days when women were only allowed to watch. “The past three decades have witnessed a steady growth in women's sports programs in America along with a remarkable increase in the number of women athletes (Daniel Frankl 2)” From an early age women were thought to be “Lady Like”; they are told not to get all sweaty and dirty. Over 200 years later since Maud Watson stepped on the tennis courts of Wimbledon (Sports Media digest 3); women now compete in all types and levels of sports from softball to National racing. Soccer fans saw Mia Hamm become the face of Women’s soccer around the world , Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most popular figures in tennis, and Indy car racing had their first woman racer, Danika Patrick. With all the fame generated by these women in their respective sports, they still don’t receive the same compensation as the men in their respective sports fields. Venus Williams, net worth is 60 million dollars; 27 million came from playing tennis (celebritynetworth 4). Her sister, Serena Williams has a tennis...

... middle of paper ...

...e' Salary -- $5.15M -- a Trendy, Touchy Subject.com." NBA.COM, 19 Aug. 2011..

CelebrityNetWorth.com "Danica Patrick Net Worth” 201..

CelebrityNetWorth.com "Mia Hamm Net Worth" 2011.

CelebrityNetWorth.com “Serena Williams Net Worth." 2011.

CelebrityNetWorth.com "Venus Williams Net Worth." 2011.

Coon, Larry "NBA Salary Cap." Cox.net, 23 Oct. 2011..

ESPN "2010-2011 NBA Attendance." ESPN.COM, 2011..

Frankl, Daniel. "Gender Bias in Sports: Separate and Not Equal"" Sports Media's Digest, Jan. 2005..

Frantz, Chris. "Timeline: Women in Sports." Infoplease/Pearson Education,, 2007. Web. Lombardo, John. "New President Aims to Widen WNBA’s Fan Base." SportsBusiness Daily, 30 May 2011..

Lopiano, Donna. "Purse Snatching." Ms Magaize, 1999.

Yuille, Brigitte. "Top WNBA Salaries: How Do They Stack Up?" Financial Edge/Investopedia.com, 5 Apr. 2010.

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