Title: Illustration Essay – Gender Equality in Tennis
Name:
Institution:
The sport of Tennis was recently engulfed in a controversy regarding prize money for men and women. This paper attempts to examine the conflicting points of view, and also explain why the controversy was not anything new.
The issue of gender inequality in sports is not a new phenomenon. It is an issue that has been there since sport turned professional, with countless commentators registering their disapproval with this inequality. In 2014, it was found in a survey that women generally earn less than their male counterparts in 30% of professional sport. Whereas tennis was one of the sports that had gone out of its way to bring equality, starting to pay equal prize money to both genders in tournaments, as far back as 1973. (Thompson, 2014). At the 2016 Indian Wells Tennis tournament, the Indian Wells Garden CEO, Raymond Moore, claimed that the women’s sport owed a lot to the likes of Roger Federer and other star male players, for “carrying the sport”. He also implied that the WTA owed a lot to the male players, and female players should be “thankful that they (the male players) were born”. (Guardian, 2016)
While these comments were arguably in bad taste, and could even be construed as being sexist, the male number 1, Novak Djokovic appeared to support these claims by asserting that since men’s events were better attended by fans, the players should therefore get more than the women. While saying that women get what is rightfully theirs, Novak said that men should also fight, as women had fought, to get what was “rightfully” theirs. (Guardian, 2016)
These comments attracted the ire of the women’s top seed, Serena Williams. As she pointed out, the 2015 US open final sold out before the men’s event. This was designed to debunk Novak’s theory about having more viewers. She strongly criticized Moore’s comments, about women having to thank men for uplifting their sport. (Guardian, 2016)
This controversy points to a greater problem in efforts to create gender equity in tennis. And while efforts to make this a success have been largely successful, there is overwhelming evidence that there are major stakeholders who do not agree with this, there is sufficient evidence, on the other hand, and that there is enough support to make a change. The speed with which Moore and Novak made their apologies for these remarks is a sign, perhaps, that the general feeling in the sport is that women should get the same amount of money in prizes as the men.
There are many reasons, too, that tennis should set the bar and enforce equality in prize money. Women’s tennis is rapidly becoming as popular as the men’s sport, as pointed out by Serena Williams. Women players work at least as hard as, if not more than, men. Additionally, There is a perception (as claimed by Novak), that women do not have the same stamina or toughness to compete like men do. This is a prejudice that has been disproven over time, from women’s marathon to other sports. Men play longer sets than women on average, but that alone cannot be taken as a reason to then pay them more. (Close, 2016)
There have been instances when women’s games have garnered more viewership than men’s games – 2005, 2013 and 2014 in different tournaments. This is yet another sign that the viewership theory is largely a myth that cannot be used to argue for different pay checks. (Close, 2016)
Women’s sport, generally, are in a drop in terms of popularity. The may sometimes mean that the sport will consequently attract less viewers, and less sponsors, greatly affecting the revenues from which the prize money is got. However, reducing prize money will erode professionalism from the women’s sport, by forcing them to even take second jobs so that they can supplement their incomes. This then results in even lower popularity rankings, and may lead to the demise of a sport. Pegging pay on these ideas therefore, is potentially very dangerous, not only on the women’s game, but on the men’s as well. (Close, 2016)
The ITF chief has said that both men and women create great entertainment and quality when they play. This means then, that they should be treated equally and be paid equally in terms of prize money. (AP, 2016) It is an encouraging message from th top of the world governing body of tennis on where they intend the spend to go with regards to equal opportunities for women and men. It is also a sign to other sports as well, on what can be achieved when there is sufficient will to make a change, and also crucially, the obstacles that will be present along the way as this is achieved.
References
AP. (2016, March 25). TF president David Haggerty maintains 'tennis is a clean sport. Retrieved from ESPN: http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/15064908/itf-president-david-haggerty-maintains-tennis-clean-sport
Close, K. (2016, March 22). 5 Reasons Why Tennis Should Keep Paying Men and Women Equally. Retrieved from Time Money : http://time.com/money/4265912/equal-pay-tennis-djokovic-williams/
Guardian. (2016, March 21). Novak Djokovic: men’s tennis should fight for more prize money than women. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/21/novak-djokovic-indian-wells-equal-prize-money-tennis
Thompson, A. e. (2014, October 28). Men get more prize money than women in 30% of sports. Retrieved from BBC Sport: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/29744400
qjkatzo966
tennis.docx
0
