How Can The WNBA Fix The Wage Gap?
Originally published May 9, 2024
The gender wage gap is something that affects almost every industry. Even after years of advocacy for equal pay, women still earn 16% less than men on average and earn 84 cents for every dollar a man makes (Forbes). This gap is an improvement from the history of women’s pay, but it’s still not enough.
Women’s basketball is no stranger to the pay gap. WNBA players are paid less than NBA players by millions and millions of dollars. This article discusses the difference of pay in professional basketball saying that it “has arguably the greatest gender pay gap of any profession.” It continues to say that the average salary for a WNBA player is about $150,000 per year. While this is a six-figure salary, it’s nothing compared to the $10 million average salary NBA players make.
Over the years a ton of WNBA players have spoken out about this inequity. Let’s break down what some of these women have to say.
“Some people look at us as like charity. Like, ‘Oh, we’ll help them out,’ in a charitable sense, not in, like, this business investment way. And if they do look at us as an investment, immediately, it’s talked about how we don’t make money…”
“Only the top 1% of all women who play the game make it to [the WNBA]. But what am I supposed to tell my daughter? This lack of gender parity and the wage gap will be there, whatever she wants to do. She will never make the same amount of money as a man.”
“(The NBA has) made rock stars out of these players. And we just have not been able to capitalize on any of that. Not even a little bit. Not even one bit. Like, are you kidding me with some of the stuff that they do marketing and promoting-wise? It’s almost mind-boggling.”
“Now it’s just up to us to continue to have a voice, and continue to have people invested in us and want to be real and take care of us as players, as athletes, and then we go from there.”
As you can tell, these women are serious about seeing a change in the pay gap. I can’t help but notice that there’s one thing that all of these quotes have in common… image. The NBA profit’s from promoting its players in ways that make them desirable to the public. The WNBA needs to revamp its marketing and public relations strategy to make the public invested in the players.
The new draft class has a chance to make this happen. Players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese who have a huge following from college basketball can make people want to invest their time and money into the WNBA. If the WNBA ever wants to close the pay gap they need to start marketing their players as what they are, talented, badass women who play the game just as well as men.
Links to quotes: Sue Bird | Skylar Diggins-Smith | Diana Taurasi | A’ja Wilson