If this thread generates interest, hopefully it can stay in the Hangout and avoid D&D. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pattisonave/You-cant-equate-mens-and-womens-sports.html You can't equate men's and women's sports by John Smallwood, DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST I respect and enjoy women’s sports – particularly women’s basketball and women’s soccer. Still in the last week, two storylines involving those sports have made me feel chauvinistic because I don’t support the premise of them. Last Friday, five members of the United States Women’s National Team filed a wage discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They say it is unfair that the USSF pays them about a quarter less than what they pay the men when they represent the United States in international competition. On Tuesday in the aftermath of the University of Connecticut smashing Syracuse to win the NCAA Women’s Tournament, one angle was that Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, by winning his 11th title, had passed UCLA legendary men’s coach John Wooden for the most championships in Division I basketball. Both stories are slight-of-hands being used to artificially enhance the stature of women’s sports. Ironically, the first points out discrimination compared to men’s sports while the second boasts equality when compared to men’s sports. Neither is correct because both assume that women and men that play sports with the same name actually play the same sport. They do not. In almost every way, from the style of play to officiating to the way they are regarded by fans and the general public, women’s and men’s sports are different games even when they have the same names. No one who watched both the NCAA men’s and women’s championship games can honestly say they watched the same sport. Auriemma did not pass Wooden because he does not coach the same sport. His watershed was when he passed Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summit. Wooden’s closest pursuer is Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has five national titles. As far as the suit by the women’s national team soccer players, I have no issue with the concept of equal pay for equal work. That does not apply in this case. Compensation in professional sports is generally based on how much revenue a player can generate in relation to other players. LeBron James is infinitely more valuable to a team as a revenue builder than Ish Smith – hence the huge disparity in their salaries. The women’s soccer players pulled a nice shell game by cherry picking 2015 as a way to say they generated more revenue for the USSF than the men’s team. Donnellon: Wright's class and humility at summit Apr 5 - 9:25 AM It is true that the women generated $20 million more than the men in 2015 -- but 2015 was a FIFA World Cup year for the women. During the men’s 2014 FIFA World Cup, it’s been reported that the USA men’s team brought in around 50 times that number in revenue. Companies paid more than $600 million for the 451 thirty-second television commercials at the 2014 World Cup. The 2015 Women’s Cup drew about $40 million. The biggest thing is that FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, gives the women’s game little respect. The USA women’s team got $2 million for winning the 2015 Women’s World Cup while the men got $9 million for getting knocked out in the round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup because FIFA awarded the bonuses. The EEOC can’t tell an international business how to give out its prize money. That disparity in pay is a function of the business market and not sex discrimination. WNBA players don’t make the same as NBA players because the league does not make the same amount of money. Major League Soccer players work as hard at being professional athletes as NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB players but they don’t get paid as well as them because their game does not generate the money the other leagues do. They are all male athletes but some sports are more popular than others and the salaries reflect that. I appreciate, enjoy and support women’s sports, but I do so with the understanding that they are different games than the one’s men play – even if the name is the same.
I can't disagree with the article. Esp re Soccer. There was controversy in 2015 about women playing on turf -- something the Men's WC would never do (but men's MLS and college players do). The response was that Canada was the only bidder for the games, unlike the Men's WC where counties out bribe eachother to host the games and build new and grander facilities.
100% true, the men's game is the top level competition if the women wanted equal pay they should be playing with and against the men. Women's sports are entertaining but at a much lower level than men's sports generally speaking. There is no equality in competition. DD
This stuff is pretty basic. Not sure why it needs to be said. Productivity correlates to salary. Whether that product is widgets at a factory or viewers of a television or movie production. If women's sports were pulling in as many viewers as men, and they were being compensated significantly less, you'd have a discrimination argument on your hands. But they're not.
perfect time to bring up that it seems to me that most women who dominate women's sports have male physical traits. it's as if they are neither fully woman or fully man. i know there is full on debates about transgenders in sports but i fell it falls short because even with transgenders, it's fairly clear cut. you either have the "parts" or you don't and that's that. but what if you are man everywhere else but "down there?"
Not sure how this can be argued. It is a factually correct statement: "...one angle was that Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, by winning his 11th title, had passed UCLA legendary men’s coach John Wooden for the most championships in Division I basketball..."
Holy crap I agree with you 100%. Let's spin it another way, what if the MLS went on strike and said they need to have the same level of pay as NBA players. Hell, let's say they felt like they deserved the same level of pay as players in the EPL. Would you say they have an accurate statement? I think with gender issues people hold their tongues because if you have an opinion that dissents you are a sexist. Let's be honest here, there's a reason why the Houston Comets no longer exist.
Whoa... Now you're just going too far. Everyone knows that the Comets not being here is the result of scam to stop them from winning the championship every year. Cynthia Cooper deserved to be paid like an NBA player.
Do male p*rn performers get paid as much as the female ones? I really don't know, and I'm not going to search that at work, haha. I assume they don't, for the same reasons.
Breh haven't you heard? Gender is a social construct - an offensive one at that. Gender Expression: you are whatever gender you feel yourself to be at any given time. Shame on you for presuming to know what gender another human (or any other living creature for that matter) might be expressing in that particular moment.
