Blowing Water | Equal pay is a vital issue for all, not just soccer players at the Women’s World Cup
- Equal treatment, support and respect are essential for women to become successful, and society should step up to ensure they get it
- Hong Kong in particular is a major culprit in allowing pay gap between men and women to widen as each get older
The statistics are fairly stark when it comes to the gender pay gap. Some commonly cited data indicates that women make 80 per cent of what men earn, while other figures put it at as little as half.
Although gender pay inequality is a perennial topic that has generated much discussion, and many industries have done their part to improve the situation, one sector that stands out in this debate is the realm of professional sport.
Nilla Fischer, a Swedish female international soccer player, made a shocking assessment in a recent interview: “What they [male soccer players] possibly make in an hour, I make in a year.”
According to a 2018 Sporting Intelligence Salary Survey, the English Premier League’s male soccer players are paid more than 100 times what their counterparts in the women’s game earn. Male soccer players in the Premier League earn £3 million (US$3.8 million) a year on average.
This year, the issue was highlighted during the Fifa Women’s World Cup, which was recently held in France. The US women’s national team, which would go on to win the tournament, had set the tone, filing a lawsuit in March against the US Soccer Federation.
