On Wednesday, Forbes released its list of top 100 paid athletes in the world with one glaring omission: not a single woman made the list. This is the first time this has happened since the list was expanded to at least 50 people in 2010. While perhaps unsurprising to some, this stark reality is a reminder of how far sport has to go when it comes to gender equity – and perhaps more importantly, suggests that things are getting worse.
The gender pay gap in sport is well known. Figures from the Sporting Intelligence annual salary survey in November 2017 found that gender inequality is more entrenched in sport than in politics, business, medicine and space exploration. Included in the report was the astonishing fact that Brazilian forward Neymar, who ranked fifth on Forbes’ 2018 list, was paid more than the entire top seven women’s football leagues combined.
Take a moment for that to sink in: in what kind of world do we value a single men’s football player more than seven leagues of women?
The 2018 Forbes list is even more startling when you take in the mammoth figures men's sport stars are paid. Lionel Messi, who comes in second, was paid $111m, with $84m in salary or winnings and a further $27m in endorsements. Just one percent of Messi's salary equates to $1.1m. Just how many women's sport stars are paid that much, worldwide? The list is probably shorter than the 100 men listed by Forbes.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this list is the name at the top: boxer Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather has been convicted of violence against women: twice having pleaded guilty, once having been convicted only to have those charges dismissed five years later, and once having been sentenced to 90 days in jail (only to be released after 60 days) for hitting the mother of his children, in front of them. However, he was never suspended by the Nevada boxing commission after pleading guilty – and now earns a cool $285m, with $275m in salary and winnings and $10m in endorsements.
If you consider that Mayweather is the world’s highest paid athlete, and that not a single woman makes the list, a couple of clear messages emerge: firstly, there aren’t sufficient consequences for men who perpetrate violence against women (especially in sport), and secondly: women simply aren’t respected in the same way men are. Until they are, lists like these, or the notorious gender pay gap, currently at 15.3 per cent in Australia, won’t shift.
Take for example Serena Williams. Reports on the Forbes list have pointed out that Williams was on last year's list – albeit as the sole woman. The reason Williams dropped off the list this year was because she was pregnant. According to Australia's Workplace Gender Equality Agency, two of the key reasons the gender pay gap exists are: women's disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work, and women's greater time out of the workforce, impacting on career progression and opportunities.
Although Williams is an exceptional case, who was incredibly well off during pregnancy (still earning an estimated $18m off the court in endorsements), she lost nearly $8m in prize money as a consequence of having her daughter. Clearly, even the most well off aren’t immune from the gender pay gap that persists in so many workplaces, sport included.
Perhaps, in some ways, it is useful that Williams didn't make the top 100 this year. Having been the sole woman to make the top 100 in the year before (and one of only two – with rival Maria Sharpova – in the year before that), her exceptionalism has masked deep inequity for many women across the board, not just at the elite level, and not just in tennis, which persists in being the most lucrative sport for women.
The composition of lists like these must change, but before that can happen, we must start by addressing what underpins gender inequity in sport: respect for women.
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