Equal pay for equal work. That is the mantra that is constantly shoved down our throats. Even celebrated actress Jessica Chastain chimed in this week about the supposed gender pay gap and briefly espoused the idea of equal pay for equal work. Well, except in jobs where there is a high fatality rate (SEE: Will feminists demand gender equality in logging and roofing?)
The latest data to suggest there is an immense gap in pay is in the NBA and the WNBA.
It’s reported that WNBA players earn on average just 1.4 cents for every dollar an NBA player is paid. The average salary for an NBA player is $4.9 million, while the average WNBA player salary is just $72,000. Wow! That is a huge gap. It’s time to protest, shut down the NBA arenas and demand the commissioners to either raise the salary of WNBA players or lower the salary of NBA players.
But wait a minute…don’t NBA players put more butts in the seats than WNBA players? Yes. Yes, they do.
NBA players garner the sponsors, the ticket sales, the ads and the media attention. LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant are household names and they make a fortune. Can you name at least three WNBA players without going to Google? Likely not.
When women draw they earn more (SEE: Women don’t get paid as much as men in sports because they don’t draw). When they don’t draw then they won’t earn more than their male counterparts. There isn’t some vast conspiracy to hold down the players of the WNBA. Once the WNBA has its own version of Ronda Rousey or Serena Williams then perhaps it will gain more viewers. Until then, the WNBA players will be earning very little compared to their male counterparts.
Let’s face it: the only name from UFC the average person knows is Ronda Rousey. In turn, they actually watch it to see what the big deal. Let’s hope the WNBA can find its own star.
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