Feminists: What is your opinion on the fact that WNBA players get paid far less than NBA players?

Do you consider this to be discrimination, since women are in essence getting paid less to do the exact same job as men?





The highest paid WNBA (women) players are only making just over $80,000 a year. The highest paid NBA (men) players make over 30 million dollars a year. The lowest-paid WNBA players make about $30,000 a year, while the lowest-paid NBA players make $200,000 a year -- which is still higher than the highest-paid WNBA player. Is this fair?





Or, like me, do you base this pay-discrepancy on the fact that women's basketball is less exciting, as perceived by the general public in the fact that far less people watch or attend WNBA games than NBA games.





Are a lot of female basketball players in general envious and jealous towards male basketball players about this fact?

Feminists: What is your opinion on the fact that WNBA players get paid far less than NBA players?
I'm not a feminist, but....


Have you ever tried watching WNBA games?


*yawn*...I just can't get into watching what looks like a court full of wanna be men, shootin hoop.





NBA, on the other hand, oh yeah.





I'm not sure what the women players think....





I would hope they understood the dynamics of business...


he who brings in more money via fans/customers makes more money.





Edit: Lycraspandex....


well you said exactly what I was thinking but was trying to be politically correct, and not offend the butch lesbian community.


(as I have nothing against them).





Again, the pay is based on "fan base", I personally don't know any WNBA fans....I wouldnt go to a game if you gave me the tickets for free....but I would pay to see an NBA game.





Edit:


excellent point on the female supermodles.


There are always going to be certain careers that are dominated by one particular sex...we all have our strengths and weaknesses....
Reply:The simple truth is that WNBA isn't as popular as NBA, so it only makes sense that their pay isn't going to be as high as men's.
Reply:The quality of play in the WNBA (with their 6" vertical jumps) is far less than that of the NBA. Why should 3rd rate players make as much as the best players in the world???
Reply:Yup it's all popularity not sexism.
Reply:It upsets me a lot that women athletes receive so much less pay than men. But I guess the root of the problem is that so many people find women's sports to be "boring", and that's what upsets me the most. But I don't guess there's really anything that can be done about it. The reason why women make less (attracting a smaller fan base) is certainly LOGICAL, even if it is really saddening.
Reply:Well, yes I think it's unfair. But more people watch the NBA than the WNBA. But maybe the WNBA are happy with their pay, but if they want more money then they should.
Reply:I'm a feminist; but I'm also a capitalist.





The market determines the salaries of the players (male or female). Male basketball is more extreme and right now, more popular so more ticket sales and more t-shirt sales, etc...more dough to pay the players with. Maybe someday the women's teams will draw the same sorts of crowds.
Reply:No, its perfectly legitimate. People don't go to WNBA games. The women aren't generating the money like the NBA players are. And if people want to say that's men fault because they don't go to WNBA games, then, with that logic, its women's fault for not going to WNBA games. Nobody complains that male models make less- they see it as fair. And it IS. Not everything is supposed to be fair- thats what makes it fair. That it just, got forbid, goes the way it goes.
Reply:If less people watch WNBA, then there's less money coming from sponsors and commercials. Therefore, it makes sense that they are paid less.





Someone mentionned tennis: if they do get more attention (coverage, etc.) than men but get paid less, then that's not fair.





Sport is run by sponsors and commercials, so there's nothing sexist about paying less people who generate less money.





And you gave a good example with models: female models make more than male ones.
Reply:As their popularity increases, so will their paychecks. This is one area, however, where women may not be able to catch up with men. Because of our physical differences and limitations, women are not as capable as men to perform spectacularly in certain sports...this is not always true, but in general, I think it is. People pay money to see a spectacular show....men are able to jump higher, they have more strength, and so forth. There are exceptions, of course, but in general I think that this is the reason it's more fun to watch men play (and why men attract a larger audience in sports) than women do. However, women's sports (like basketball) are attracting bigger audiences now more than ever before.
Reply:I don't think this one has to do with sexism and discrimination...it's a simple fact of supply and demand...there is more money being made in the NBA than the WNBA and the "workers" will profit accordingly.
Reply:Its funny how its okay beeing payed second to the rules of the marker when you are a pro sportsman, but not when you do some other job.
Reply:This is no different, really, than the fact that some male NBA players make much more money than other ones. In fact, the NBA makes money, some of which is used to subsidize the WNBA, which loses money. If the WNBA players were to get the same salary as NBA players, the league would just be folded. Also, the NBA plays more games per season (more than twice as many), and NBA games are 20% longer, so it's really not even the same work.





If you want an example of unfairness in sports pay, it's men's versus women's tennis. For a long time, women's tennis has been getting higher ratings than men's tennis, but the men's prizes have been bigger.





Disclaimer: I'm not sure what definition you use for feminists. I think people from both sexes should receive opportunities and rewards proportionate to their achievements, and that this will not always be equal, especially in things like sports, where the physical differences between men and women really matter.
Reply:I'm not surprised. There isn't as much of a market for the WNBA as there is for the NBA. Still, I believe that professional athletes shouldn't be making that kind of money. There are so many other uses for it.
Reply:One of my female students who plays college ball wrote a paper about this last year. I think it sucks. You also fail to mention that a great number of female ball players have *second jobs* as coaches. Can you imagine a male ball player taking a second job? Laughable.





I'm also pretty sure that male athletes get away with far more illegal crap than their female counterparts. Rape and sexual harassment and domestic violence, anyone? Shootings at your place of residence? The media is making a bigger deal out of Vick's dogfighting than it makes when we find out one of innumerable athletes is beating his wife again.





But all of this merely shows that ... that's corporate America for you. The media must keep busy making it difficult for people to see or hear anything new or different, dictating what game you're going to watch on what channel when because it doesn't offer the game you *really* want to watch - or offer anything new in general. Our culture barely reads books, but worships athletes like movie stars. (Male) athletes are excessively and ridiculously overpaid. I don't even know how their pay scales got to be set so high in the first place. It's nonsense.





Most newspaper sports writers I've personally known held more respect and appreciation for college ball, since they realize the pro leagues in many of these sports might as well be circuses, with drugs and stunts and drama. Kind of like ... pro wrestling. College is the last place to see a real game with real effort and real sportsmanship.

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