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In today’s world of sports, we often hear female voices calling for equal pay or greater equity with male sports. Take Serena Williams, for example, who has long been an advocate for greater gender equality in tennis. On the other hand, major sporting authorities tend to avoid taking direct stances or proclaiming campaigns to address the imbalances within various sports.
Have we truly made significant progress so far, or is this issue still far from being resolved?
Looking at Tennis, the situation presents a challenging reading of the changes that have been implemented to achieve equality. This particular sport is currently characterized by a top-down imbalance, where prize money is only substantial for players in the top rankings of both the ATP and WTA. For instance, Rafael Nadal earned around €14 million in 2019 from his tournament victories, closing the year as world number one. The left-handed player from Manacor earned 41 times more than the then-96th ranked ATP player, Salvatore Caruso.
Comparing Nadal with the top WTA player in 2019, Ashleigh Barty, the gender-based prize money difference is immediately evident: €14 million vs €9.3 million earned by the Australian tennis player. This represents a 33% gap. Such discrepancies are visible in individual tournaments as well: in Rome, the men’s prize money exceeds the women’s by 68%, in Canada by 123%, and in Cincinnati by 128%. Furthermore, 45% of ATP professionals don’t earn more than €100,000 annually, while 41% of women in tennis earn less than €50,000.
In recent years, the tennis world has made significant efforts to reduce the gender-based prize money gap, but it has only been reduced sporadically. The reality is that we are still far from a uniform distribution of prize money between the genders and greater equity in the rankings. This is particularly true in the current context, where the COVID-19 pandemic has further reduced the amount of prize money offered in various tournaments.
This problem is not limited to tennis but affects many other sports as well. The issue is even more pronounced in sports like football, where enormous differences emerge. The highest-paid female footballer is Australian Samantha Kerr, who plays for Chelsea, earning around €720,000 per season, a significant amount compared to Alex Morgan’s €410,000. When we compare this to the salaries of male footballers, the gap becomes evident: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo earn €87 million and €57.5 million, respectively. In Italy, this issue is further exacerbated by lower salaries: female players earn an average of €15,000 annually. This figure highlights the stark contrast with male counterparts; for instance, Tommaso Berni, former third goalkeeper for Inter Milan, earned €200,000 despite having zero appearances and only two expulsions with the team.
Looking across the Atlantic, this topic is a hot issue in the NBA and WNBA. In recent years, American female basketball players have voiced numerous complaints not only about the highly unequal salary distribution but also about issues like maternity leave, which was not previously compensated. Americans are known for their openness to innovation, and they have demonstrated this once again. Recently, they reached an agreement that will revolutionize the concept of female sports for the next eight years. The historical significance of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was highlighted by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who expressed pride in the players’ fight to finally address an injustice that had persisted for too long.
The female players will see their salaries rise to up to €250,000, with bonuses that could bring their total earnings to €500,000 for the most talented athletes. Moreover, during maternity, the players will receive their full salary, in addition to various bonuses to ensure a comfortable family arrangement for raising their child. While this may seem like a small step given the vastly higher salaries of male NBA players — up to $43 million a year — it represents one of the first concrete efforts to reduce gender inequality in basketball and sports in general.
The debate over gender inequality in sports is destined to become more heated, and inevitably, many sports organizations will have to take a stance and implement plans to close a gap that, today, still seems insurmountable in certain sports dominated by outdated mentalities. However, the example set by the United States shows that it is time to take concrete actions in this area. Reducing gender differences will require a coordinated collective effort to ensure that, in the future, the gender gap in sports (and beyond) becomes nothing more than a faint memory.
Written by Stefano Maggioni
BOCCONI STUDENTS FOR SPORT MANAGEMENT 
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