Breaking news! Sportswomen poorly paid :(
Latest research on our athlete's economic reality
A summary graphic of findings from Parity’s report
There is a joke I have on rotation that speaks to my financial situation.
“If you think our women athletes are paid poorly, imagine the folks that write about them.”
I make this joke and yet, I can say I have made 100% more money as someone that writes about women’s sport than I ever did as someone that played it. In an alternate universe, perhaps I skipped the years on the paddock and instead spent those hours studying gender politics. I would probably have ended up in much the same position but with a slightly less aggravated left shoulder.
I tell you this because research has dropped this week about the economic reality of women in sport. Parity’s study found that currently 50% of athlete’s deemed “professional” make zero or negative dollars from participating in their sport. That 74% of those surveyed currently hold jobs outside of their sport. And that 64% of athletes feel very or extremely stressed about money meaning the same percentage have frequently considered early retirement.
Grim but not surprising. This echoes my own research that I did a while back looking at the experiences of players in the Farah Palmer Cup. This is an amateur competition, most distinctly I believe, for the way it is run. That survey of 90 players from 13 provinces revealed two thirds of the athletes took time off work to play and telling, a third did not receive adequate notice to be able to apply for paid leave.
That researched also revealed that time commitment outweighing rewards was reported as the number on reason for leaving the sport.
Side note: I should try and replicate this survey now, would be fascinating to see what, if anything, has shifted in that time.
It’s easy to think a healthier pay cheque will write off all these issues. But I took a look at the reality of the roll out of professionalism in women’s rugby earlier this year for Scrum Queens. The money going into players pockets isn’t necessarily yielding the results we need. Instead it’s ramping up the pressure as there are still more talent then contracts available. It’s an individualistic solution to a collective issue.
Because we are only truly investing right at the top, the whole system is profoundly out of balance. Athletes sat upon such rickety infrastructure are always going to produce shaky results.
I think the core issue underlying all of this is that of choice. That women in sport still don’t really have one. And that many of the women who are currently doing it all would prefer to just do one thing.
Speaking to Black Ferns co-captain, Ruahei Demant, about the impact of being contracted full time, she suggested that what pay bought was not the opportunity to go all in on rugby but rather go all in on her life. That now that rugby didn’t crowd the sideline of work hours, she could make more time for friends and family.
So it’s choice but it’s also precedent. That men in sport have set, creating the expectation that at some point, women will be fully professional just like them. Women have put in years of service, on the basis that their investment will at some stage pay dividends. Even if that’s to the players the follow.
The tension of course is that the world of sports is changing, for everyone. The money just isn’t there in the same way. You wouldn’t get the Rupert Murdoch cash injection that gave every men’s Super Rugby player a base wage of $65,000 NZD ($120,000 with inflation) in 1996. People just aren’t or perhaps can’t place the bets on a new leagues in the same way. At least, not in this part of the world.
It’s a shit time for the women’s sport to be coming of age. To arrive at the party just as it’s winding down.
I personally think a conversation overdue. To reset expectations of our ambitious athletes. To understand that the payday may never come. But likewise that our sports must understand that without financial security, we will be keeping one foot firmly rooted elsewhere to keep ourselves safe. So stop asking them to hop onboard and design with that duality in mind.
With you,
Alice