A Dummies Guide to Pay Equity in Women's Sports

My husband is the best. He is supportive, knows I am a strong woman, and I KNOW he is on my team. But yesterday, when discussing the inequitable pay gap in women’s sports, we argued. He argued that we may get paid more when more female ultra runners exist. It prompted the discussion of why those who argue against parity say it’s a matter of simple economics: male sports tend to generate more revenue; therefore, men should make more than women. I think that’s a cop-out. There is systemic sexism in sports that leads to unequal pay, which starts with the expectations of motherhood and ends with women’s coverage.

An important man in my life (don’t fret; it wasn’t my husband) recently told me that in his early years of fatherhood, he expected his wife to do most of the parenting, particularly at night, claiming that women were “just better at it” and “just built differently.” I haven’t stopped thinking about how that is relevant to the pay gap in women’s sports.

A 2024 gender gap study by ASICS’, found that over half of women in the United Kingdom are having to stop exercising completely due to lifestyle pressures and time constraints - particularly among mothers. In the survey, participants frequently described how social expectations about gender roles, particularly around household responsibilities, played a major part in them stopping exercise. While I think the rhetoric around the responsibilities of parenting IS changing, those types of comments and beliefs are why there aren’t more women in sports and why it’s so easy for someone like Carson to overlook the pressures women have on their shoulders and how it relates to inequitable pay. I think the man who said that to me expects that I will quit running at a high level when I start having kids, and by his logic, I would have to.

Women, either through societal conditioning or because they don’t have a choice, have historically assumed the majority of the parenting responsibilities. While nothing is inherently wrong with that, it becomes unfair when done out of necessity or implied cultural pressures vs. a decision made between parents. The mom, who is expected to shoulder most of the parenting responsibilities, doesn’t have the time or mental energy to pursue running goals. Even though a cultural shift has occurred where parenting responsibilities are often shared, women’s sports need time to catch up. And as we do catch up, we need the media to follow suit to make the difference.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard that this year’s women’s college basketball national championship blew viewership records out of the water, with 18.9 million people tuning in on ABC and ESPN. At its peak, 24.1 million viewers watched South Carolina beat Iowa and star point guard Caitlin Clark to win its second title in three years.

The huge ratings number is up 89% from last year’s title game and 285% from 2022, cementing the match-up as the most-watched sporting event across all networks since Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, outside of the NFL and the Olympics. Still, these figures prove that women’s basketball can go toe-to-toe with football, with only 15 NFL games last year attracting more viewers than the women’s title game. And for the first time ever, the women’s title game outdrew the men.

What changed? Major sports media gave March Madness more coverage, more access to games, and networks/advertisers leveraging live sports! I saw women’s basketball clips for the first time on the ESPN Instagram page since the inception of my Instagram account when my handle was @poopiswhatwedo.

So maybe the root of the problem isn’t what women are getting paid but the lack of foundation they have to build from to capitalize on their talent. This year, women’s basketball players were treated and reported on like the stars they are, and their fanbase grew! Little girls all over the country suddenly cared about basketball! It was amazing! When we make equal pay the central part of the conversation, we miss all the smaller things that enable a system that hurts women’s advancement in sports and their opportunity to generate equal revenue and, in return, warrant (from an economic perspective) equal pay. And when the marketing isn’t there, it gives ammo to the usual critics who say: “See? They don’t generate enough interest.”

That said, equal pay should still be part of the conversation. Even though the WNBA draft brought in 2.5 million viewers, the highest viewership to date, according to ESPN, Caitlin Clark, who was selected No. 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft is estimated to make $76,535 in her first season -- approximately $338,000 over four years, per the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement -- according to Sport Trac. To put this in perspective, most NBA players make over 100 times what the new women's players will make, including rookie Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 NBA draft pick last year, whose 2023-24 season salary was more than $12 million.

Often, the people in charge of contracts are (white) men who relate to (white) male athletes. While I had trouble finding exact numbers on the inequitable pay gap for specifically BIPOC women, I have witnessed the unfair coverage BICOP women receive, even at the very highest level of athletics. When Aliphine Tuliamuk won the 2020 Olympic Trails Marathon for the 2021 Olympics, I was frustrated that the race coverage wasn’t following her. I later read on her Instagram that she was infuriated with the lack of coverage she received or that the commentators didn’t know anything about her when she made her move.

“I have watched that race 7 times, and I got enraged each of those last 6. I wondered if the reason was that I was a black woman, or that I am a Kenyan-American, (so not American enough?). I believe that any media covering a race should be fare and do their research, so that athletes can get the exposure they deserve, and fans can be educated on who they are watching; this can also make a difference in our careers in so many ways. Let’s all do better!”

It all starts with equitable media coverage. How can fans of a sport get equally excited about female professionals if all the hype is around men’s athletics? How can fans follow the women’s race if there is no coverage of them? If women’s athletics aren’t covered in the same depth as men’s, then, OF COURSE, women won't bring in the same kind of revenue to the companies that sponsor the athletes!

Covering women’s events less gives those who sponsor professional athletes an excuse to pay women less. And by not covering women’s sports, specifically following the stories of BIPOC women, we are doing a disservice to the women athletes of the future, who deserve to have idols- not just one, but many- who they can relate to.

In running, we have to sign NDAs, so pay is way less publicized, which I actually think that might be part of the problem! But people talk, and we KNOW that women are making less than their male counterparts.

I have been preaching this for a long time, but the fact is that even my husband, who, again, IS WONDERFUL, cited the lack of participants as a justifiable cause for the inequitable pay gap. While our sport has been improving, I am getting paid less than my male counterparts. I know that voices like Corrine Malcom, a professional runner for Adidas, was fired as a commentator for being “too outspoken about the lack of women’s coverage.

After I laid this out for Carson, he was astonished at what he didn’t know. I was surprised, too, considering it is literally my whole world. But that’s just it, it’s MY world, so I care a lot. It’s a nuanced issue that, in some ways, must be experienced to be fully understood. I have spent my entire life trying to prove that I am as good and valuable as a man, all while trying not to compromise who I am as a woman. Did you know that I’ve had someone who was directly in charge of my contract and how much I got paid ask to take a photo of my ass in front of his sports car in my running shorts?! What’s worse is that I let him! I felt that saying no might directly impact my contract, as he sometimes implied that my marketability was related to my appearance. I regret it every single day. I don’t wear those running shorts anymore. I feel shame around that moment, and it’s directly related to the inequitable pay gap. At that moment, I did compromise what I was comfortable with to show that I was valuable.

There are probably a million blogs and articles just like this, citing the same shit, written by women just like me- women who sometimes have just had enough and need to rant on a Sunday afternoon. But I want to hear more. Carson wants to learn! Here is a text he sent to me when I sent him the first draft of this post:

“I was ignorant of how WE were facing an uphill battle together, which is even more crazy, and I didn’t even understand the battle we were up against. Over the past couple of years, I’ve proven that I will do anything I can to help you and your journey in professional running. I appreciate you showing the world a little more clearly how I have been making this my top priority and how the basis of ignorance does not mean that I don’t care.”

There is so much power in education. That is why I am writing this blog. I assumed everything I laid out here today is common knowledge. It’s not, but having a lot of these conversations will help us get there. I am so grateful to have a husband who fights with me and for me by supporting my career and helping to dismantle unjust systems.

To the brands- invest in women. Show us you care by making the resources available. Sponsor race coverage if the races aren’t willing to do it themselves.