All sports have a gender gap, but rugby stands out as a sport in which women demonstrably get the short end of the stick. Ilona Maher is an American rugby player, two-time Olympian who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She appeared as the digital September cover star for Sports Illustrated and acted as a spokesperson for Maybelline’s lipstick when she was quoted in Allure magazine as saying that “the lipstick I wear on the field is Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink.” It sounds like she has it all, and yet in her interview with Sports Illustrated she revealed that she and many other of her athlete friends still encounter a glass ceiling in their careers.
Maher’s words illustrate the pay discrepancy in professional sports that is based on gender. In her Sports Illustrated interview she says that “Men get to play rugby and they get paid millions of dollars while we make minimum wage and this won't be a career for us. I have teammates going into the workforce now, whereas these guys are down there and rugby's it for them”. In other words, female rugby players have to hit just as hard as men, but with the extra flair of doing it in stilettos.
This gender bias in professional sports didn’t just become apparent. In 2019, twenty-eight women on the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team filed a 67-million-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation demanding pay equity for members of the team.
The U.S. Soccer Federation responded to the suit by stating that “pay for women is fair because men are bigger, stronger and faster.” So, I guess it follows that salaries for men’s basketball and football players will be based on height, size, and strength. The reaction to that should be interesting. These Women Olympic athletes demanded that their accomplishments be judged on an equal playing field with the men athletes and not diminished because of their gender.
The reality remains that professional sports are businesses, and businesses must be profitable to survive. The Sports and Fitness Industry Association in the United States found that 60% of attendees at professional sports events are men, while 40% are women. Of course, the attendance percentages vary for each specific sport. For example, the attendees at NFL events are comprised of 65-70% men and the NBA is 70% men- 30% women . MLB attracts a slightly more balanced audience with around 55-60% men and 40-45 % women. The Women’s National Basketball Association notes that although women make up about 40-50% of their audience, men still attend their events in significant numbers. These percentages are based on studies and surveys from 2020-2023. The number of tickets sold equal the amount of revenue made. So, for right or for wrong, the Sports Industry adheres to the adage “Follow the Money” in their allocation of compensation. So, Ladies, you need to step up to the plate and start attending sports events.
Even though Betty Friedan wrote “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 to espouse a rebuttal of the rigid social roles existing for women, the reality is that women are still treated as not quite equal to men, especially when it comes to gender bias in sports competitions.
All sports have a gender gap, but rugby stands out as a sport in which women demonstrably get the short end of the stick. Ilona Maher is an American rugby player, two-time Olympian who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She appeared as the digital September cover star for Sports Illustrated and acted as a spokesperson for Maybelline’s lipstick when she was quoted in Allure magazine as saying that “the lipstick I wear on the field is Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink.” It sounds like she has it all, and yet in her interview with Sports Illustrated she revealed that she and many other of her athlete friends still encounter a glass ceiling in their careers.
Maher’s words illustrate the pay discrepancy in professional sports that is based on gender. In her Sports Illustrated interview she says that “Men get to play rugby and they get paid millions of dollars while we make minimum wage and this won't be a career for us. I have teammates going into the workforce now, whereas these guys are down there and rugby's it for them”. In other words, female rugby players have to hit just as hard as men, but with the extra flair of doing it in stilettos.
This gender bias in professional sports didn’t just become apparent. In 2019, twenty-eight women on the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team filed a 67-million-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation demanding pay equity for members of the team.
The U.S. Soccer Federation responded to the suit by stating that “pay for women is fair because men are bigger, stronger and faster.” So, I guess it follows that salaries for men’s basketball and football players will be based on height, size, and strength. The reaction to that should be interesting. These Women Olympic athletes demanded that their accomplishments be judged on an equal playing field with the men athletes and not diminished because of their gender.
The reality remains that professional sports are businesses, and businesses must be profitable to survive. The Sports and Fitness Industry Association in the United States found that 60% of attendees at professional sports events are men, while 40% are women. Of course, the attendance percentages vary for each specific sport. For example, the attendees at NFL events are comprised of 65-70% men and the NBA is 70% men- 30% women . MLB attracts a slightly more balanced audience with around 55-60% men and 40-45 % women. The Women’s National Basketball Association notes that although women make up about 40-50% of their audience, men still attend their events in significant numbers. These percentages are based on studies and surveys from 2020-2023. The number of tickets sold equal the amount of revenue made. So, for right or for wrong, the Sports Industry adheres to the adage “Follow the Money” in their allocation of compensation. So, Ladies, you need to step up to the plate and start attending sports events.
Even though Betty Friedan wrote “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 to espouse a rebuttal of the rigid social roles existing for women, the reality is that women are still treated as not quite equal to men, especially when it comes to gender bias in sports competitions.
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