Professional sport has some way to go before it bridges the pay gap between male and female players. Some sports have much more work to do than others. A number of sports like tennis and athletics reward men and women equal prize money. However, football still has the largest pay gap between genders.
So, why is there still evidence of a gender pay gap in football?
A study conducted by the governing body of association football in England displayed that the hourly pay for male players was 23.3% higher than for female employees. From this we can clearly see the difference in pay between male and female players.
Furthermore, there is also a large difference between the prize money female players receive compared to male. In the 2019 Fifa Women's World Cup held in France the winning team received $4m total in prize money. However, in the men's World Cup the total prize money was $400m. This is a staggering 10 times as much in prize money! Yet, Fifa argues this is due to the difference in revenue from the games as the 2018 men’s World Cup accumulated total revenues of $6bn from broadcasting, commercial and merchandising. Yet, the 2015 Women’s World Cup accumulated total revenues of $73m from broadcasting, commercial and merchandising.
However, there is progress in bridging the pay gap between male and female players. Fifa has agreed to invest $500 million into women's football. But, many argue that more needs to be done and that players should receive the same payments and equal prize money while representing the national team- no matter their gender.