Women in Sports Deserve Equal Pay
The conversation of equal pay for sportswomen has been trending for a long time but it picked up momentum three years ago. Generally, women in almost all sports are being paid low amount of money compared to their male colleagues in the same fields. The topic has been spearheaded majorly by women in soccer, with the U.S women national soccer team being on the forefront. Also, women are not only paid less in sports but also in other professional fields, especially among CEOs. Male CEOs are mostly paid huge amount of salaries and they are provided with better benefits in terms of bonuses compared to their female counterparts. A majority of people do not think women deserve to be paid like their male counterparts, while a minority does not think so. While I do think that sportswomen deserve an equal pay, there is also a need to address other facets of their sport, such as merchandise sales and lower attendances to ensure that their sport can generate much revenue like that of their male counterparts. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In the article U.S. women’s soccer players deserve equal pay, and it shouldn’t take a lawsuit by Barry Svrluga, the author highlights why the U.S women team does not have to file a lawsuit to be awarded better pay. Through his piece, Svrluga hopes to convince the audience on why women deserve equal pay and not only in sports but also across other fields in America, such as management and accounting. The author has incorporated all the forms of rhetorical appeals including Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to drive the article’s message home.
In terms of Ethos, the writer acknowledges that first things first, there is a pay gap that is influenced by gender across all fields and not in sports only. Also, the author being a sport journalist he seems to have an understanding of the struggles sportswomen have faced in their fight for an equal pay. In the article, he takes us back to the story of the U.S women’s ice hockey team that occurred two years ago. The ice hockey team just likes the women’s soccer team were the best team in their field during that period when they threatened to down tools on the eve of the world’s championship. Through such sentiments, the writer is able to draw the reader to a common ground so that he or she can openly reason with him.
In terms of Logos, the writer uses various facts and statistics to woo his readers. For example, he states that based on a research conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2017, women who were above 16 years were remunerated 82 cents for every dollar a man gained that year. For them to achieve the men’s figure, they would have to work for another ten years. According to Svrluga (2019), the U.S women soccer national team has experienced tremendous success over the last few years, having reached two FIFA’s world cup finals and winning both of them, a fete the male national teams aspire to meet. From his perspective, the incidence with the U.S women soccer team shows that sport governing bodies have not learned from the previous incidences, for example, that of the hockey team (Svrluga, 2019). The U.S football association waited too long to address the issue to a point that it escalated to filing of a lawsuit. If the body was flexible on its stance, the situation would have been handled differently. Nevertheless, the women national team has reached two final in the past 10 years, which generated a lot of income for the body. Through the use of such statistics and facts, the writer is able to inform the reader on the realism of the situation being addressed and why there is a need for him or her to concur with his argument.
In terms of Pathos, the writer uses the tone of anger to show how despicable it is for the U.S women’s soccer national team having to file a lawsuit to be awarded better pay. He states that “turns out it takes action from the aggrieved to right the wrongs. So here come the women of the U.S. national soccer team, months before the World Cup in France, daring their bosses to see them in court” (Svrluga, 2019). The writer argues that American girls always grow up with a belief that they would compete at the highest level just like their former role models. The sad part is that despite them achieving this fete in the end, they would still earn less than their brothers (Svrluga, 2019). Through this, the writer shows that if the situation does not change now, the fate of these girls will not change in the near future. The writer believes that a country like the U.S can play a huge role in initiating changes of equal pay for sportswomen. Overall, the facts and tone used in the articles provides a strong argument which satisfies the need for a change in how women are viewed and paid in sports.
Although the writer provides a strong argument on why women deserve equal or a better pay, there is a need for addressing other aspects of their sport such as low match attendance and merchandise sales. Yes, the U.S women national team has reached the past two finals and won them; this enabled them to secure much revenue compared to the men’s national team. However, the men’s Major League Soccer (MLS) has been lucrative due to the broadcast, commercial, and merchandise revenue that are accrued. The same applies to other male football leagues, such as English Premier League (Britain), Bundesliga (Germany) and La Liga (Spain). Such revenue accrued proves why men sports personalities earn a lot of money. Bodies governing women sports have to come up with techniques and solutions that would help the women league or sport grow. A growth in leagues would see more women traversing boundaries and playing in greater leagues and teams, just like their male counterparts, such as London Donovan and Clint Dempsey, who are among the best male football players America has ever seen. Corporate sponsors also have to play a huge role in improving the women’s sport since more revenue would results in sportswomen’s better pay (Alvarez, 2019). According to Rogers (2018), based on the Statista report of 2018, women’s sports receive only 0.4% of total sponsorships. Based on this statistic, it shows how governing bodies can sustain women’s equal payments in sports such as the NBA and Soccer.
Generally, many issues are to be addressed as far as women sports is concerned, but one major issue that can be addressed is the equal payments among national teams. National teams do compete in national stages and they are not that lucrative as that of local and regional competitions, for example leagues. Since the teams are managed by national bodies such as the U.S soccer, both male and women teams deserve equal payments, and they should both be afforded the same benefits based on the achievements they have made in the competition. For example, the U.S women and men soccer teams should be paid the same amount if they qualify and manage to win a given competition. In addition, the counterargument provides a broad view on the topic and calls for the topic of equal or better pay to be addressed fully, that is, in the short term and long term.
References
Rogers, C. (2018). Why brands must rethink their approach to women’s sports sponsorship. MarketingWeek. Retrieved from https://www.marketingweek.com/brands-neglecting-womens-sports-sponsorship/
Svrluga, B. (March 2019). U.S. women’s soccer players deserve equal pay, and it shouldn’t take a lawsuit. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/us-womens-soccer-players-deserve-equal-pay-and-it-shouldnt-take-a-lawsuit/2019/03/08/abe9ad28-41db-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html
