DeanKnowledgeFlamingo9
The author uses the parenthetical phrase “and will continue to be”…
The author uses the parenthetical phrase “and will continue to be” in the final sentence of the passage (lines 64-65) primarily to suggest that
A. women need to extend the struggle for equality beyond the conventional workplace
B. future battles for gender equality will increasingly migrate to courtrooms instead
C. inequality based on gender will remain unresolved for the foreseeable future
D. career choices available to women will extend beyond traditional workplaces
E. women athletes should mentor the younger generation to advocate for equality
“Forbes released its annual look at the world’s highest-paid athletes this month, andthe top 100 exemplified the stark contrast in pay between professional male andfemale athletes.
The gender pay gap spans almost every industry, and sports is no different. ButLinebetween particular sports, there are vast discrepancies in pay for men and women,5ranging from tennis, where pay is comparable, to basketball, where players are inentirely different zip codes.
Tennis players are the only female athletes to rank among the overall top earnersover the past decade, with Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Li Na all havingappeared multiple times on Forbes’ list. Excluding men’s star Roger Federer, elite10female tennis players compare very well with their male counterparts in terms ofendorsement earnings.
The most marketable tennis players made four times as much from endorsementsand appearance fees as they did from prize money over the last year. Amongthe 10 highest-paid female athletes in 2018, nine were tennis players. Women in15male-dominated sports such as racecar driver Danica Patrick and UFC and WWEstar Ronda Rousey ranked among the top earners in their sports when they wereactive.
In team sports, though, the picture for women is bleak. The top WNBA salary was$117,500 last season, compared with $37.4 million in the NBA. The team salary20cap for the National Pro Fastpitch softball league is $175,000; the Boston Red Soxwill split $227 million in 2019. “The Yankees bat boy salary is more than myprofessional softball contract,” NPF player and U.S. women’s national teammember Delanie Gourley wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
“In team sports, it’s more difficult to stand out,” says Scott Minto, the head of the25MBA sports program at San Diego State University.
Women used to rank more prominently among the top-earning athletes, but overthe past 25 years, media companies have spent billions on TV deals for live sportscontent. The result is an explosion in player salaries in the major men’s sportsleagues. Team sport athletes represent 82% of Forbes’ highest-paid athletes list.30
The gulf in TV money between men’s and women’s sports leagues is massive.Major League Baseball is a $10 billion-in-revenue giant while the NPF playersmake an average of $5,000 to $6,000 because of the league’s low revenue. TheWNBA generates roughly $25 million annually from its TV deal with ESPN; theNBA’s TV revenue from ESPN and TNT is 100 times that.35
The WNBA did recently add a multi-year partnership with CBS Sports Network toair 40 games next season, and the new pact is in addition to the league’s existingdeal with ESPN. More TV exposure for the players will lead to more visibility, andmore visibility could lead to major deals with endorsers in the future. Nike hasn’tmade a signature shoe for a WNBA player in over 20 years.40
When the WNBA players’ union opted out of its collective bargaining agreement inNovember, Los Angeles Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike, the president of theunion, wrote for The Players’ Tribune: “This is not purely about salaries. This isabout small changes the league can make that will impact the players. This is abouta six-foot-nine superstar taking a red-eye cross-country and having to sit in an45economy seat instead of an exit row.” The current deal with the league ends inOctober.
The pay disparities in baseball/softball and basketball come down almost entirely tothe revenue their leagues generate. The case is a bit murkier for the U.S. women’snational soccer team, which is on the prowl for a second straight World Cup title50and faces Spain tomorrow after sweeping its three pool-play matches. The teamfiled a complaint against U.S. Soccer in March that states: “Female WNT playerswould earn a maximum of $99,000 or $4,950 per game, while similarly situatedmale MNT players would earn an average of $263,320 or $13,166 per game.” Theplayers claim they face discrimination when it comes to where and how often they55play, how they train and travel, the medical treatment and coaching they receive,and obviously their salaries.
The U.S. women’s soccer team’s games have generated more revenue than themen’s team over the past three years, according to a review by the Wall StreetJournal. Fox Sports say the pool-play game versus Chile had record viewership for60a Women’s World Cup group-stage match. U.S. Soccer appears to have gotten themessage, and the two sides will pursue mediation after the World Cup to resolvethe gender-discrimination lawsuit instead of going to a courtroom.
As women and girls continue to fight for equal opportunity in the workplace, thefields, arenas and courts have been, and will continue to be, no exception.”
