Farrer & Co Women in Sport - Report - Page 9
The combined salaries paid to women’s
leagues in the seven top-division football
competitions in France, Germany,
England, the US, Sweden, Australia and
Mexico were less than the £32.9 million
earned by Brazilian forward Neymar for his
playing contract for Paris Saint-Germain
in 2017-2018.
The issue of equal pay for men and
women is a hot topic. In 2019, the US
women’s soccer team launched a claim
for discrimination for unequal pay, and
over the years, a number of women’s
national football teams including
Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, and Nigeria
have publicly raised issues regarding
their pay and conditions. In Norway, by
way of contrast, men and women have
received the same pay for representing
their country since 2017.
As each sport aims to build better
participation and better rewards for
women, they have an eye on the
“sustainability” of each step. Proper
rewards are recognised as making
participation more sustainable for
players, any reverses or backward steps
would clearly be hugely damaging for
the image and morale of a sport.
Our contributors in this section ask
important questions: What is the right
measure of success for women’s sport?
Is it participation? Prizes and rewards
for its elite players? And does equal
standing for women in a sport look
like a carbon copy of the men’s game?
Farrer & Co
At a glance
More equal access to sports facilities
for women athletes and players is key
Efforts to involve school-age girls
in some sports need to be different
in character to efforts aimed at boys
Sports are learning from each other’s
successful approaches to marketing
women’s games and the experience
of spectating
Active sponsors play a key role
Prize money and contracts are
increasing, albeit slowly
Diversity at board level, in leadership
and among the coaching pool is
important in growing women’s
participation in sports from top
to bottom
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