Last year, we witnessed female sports take the spotlight for their entertaining performance. From the Paris Olympics to record-breaking viewership in women’s sports, along with the rise of female athletes like Caitlin Clark: it was a great year for women’s sports.
But unfortunately, it is difficult to talk about women’s sports without highlighting how little they get paid. A report from Adelphi University found that, in the U.S., male athletes in basketball, golf, soccer, baseball, and tennis make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than women athletes.
Although there have been steps taken to improve payment in women’s sports, the inequality continues to be prevalent. For example, early this year, Sportico released its list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for 2024. Who was absent from the list? Women athletes.
Not a single woman was among the 100 highest-paid athletes for 2024, despite women’s sports increasing in popularity. This perfectly highlights how the battle for equal pay is very much still alive. The inequality in pay is so severe that many female athletes must work a second job to supplement their income because their sports earnings aren’t enough to live on. A report from the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) found that out of the women soccer players who work a second job, over 50% of them get their main income from their secondary job.
There are many reasons why I believe women athletes deserve equal pay—one being that they put in the same amount of work as male athletes. Women athletes put in equal amounts of intense training, travel, and sometimes even win more trophies than male athletes. For example, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team has won four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles. On the other hand, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team has only reached the semifinals once, and that was in the 1930 FIFA Men’s World Cup tournament.
Additionally, women’s sports have been growing in viewership and popularity. A most recent example of this would be the 2025 WNBA finals game 1, which pulled 2.5 million viewers, ultimately breaking a 28-year ESPN record.
But the main reason I strongly support women athletes getting paid equally is because of the influence they have on young girls. For example, in Australia, there was a 67% increase in female registration in soccer since the Women’s World Cup.
For girls to continue having an interest in sports, they need representation in these athletic fields. Equal pay encourages more girls to participate and consider it a career. Equal pay shows them that men aren’t the only ones allowed to dream about turning their passion for sports into a profession.