In the past decade, the popularity of women’s football has skyrocketed. Viewership is hitting never seen before seen records highs, with England’s 2022 EUROS final win against Germany hitting peak UK television viewership at an audience of 17.5 million (The Athletic, August 2022). Match attendances are steadily growing across all leagues, with Arsenal hosting sell-out matches at the Emirates Stadium in front of more than 60,000 fans in the 23/24 WSL season. With the sport breaking records on a frequent basis, it’s almost impossible to ignore the tidal wave of change that the women’s game is generating. So why is there still such a glaring pay gap between the men’s game?
The gender pay gap can be understood as the difference in the average hourly earnings between women and men. Factors such as age, region, and differences in education can contribute to this. Across all spheres of employment, the gender pay gap exists however it is arguably most glaringly obvious in the field of sports: namely, football. Female footballers at the highest level will still earn more than the majority of UK workers in other fields, however the pay for women and men for the exact same job description is extraordinarily unequal. In 2022 at the highest level of domestic club football, the average Premier League player earned £2,800,000 per annum. In comparison, his female counterpart earned £30,000 (So Legal, October 2022).
One of the best examples to highlight the obvious inequality and gender bias in wages is to look at the sibling duo of Reece and Lauren James. Both in their early twenties dominating at the highest level in English topflight football for Chelsea. Both representing England at international level. Reece is club captain for Chelsea’s men squad but arguably, Lauren is higher ranked, more frequently played, and one of the most widely known names in the game. Yet, her yearly salary is just over what Reece earns in 1 week. Reports suggest that Reece earns £250,000 per week, and Lauren earns approximately £350,000 per year (FourFourTwo, December 2023).
Many footballers, particularly in the women’s game and even at the highest level, are reliant on other sources of income to supplement their earnings. England and Arsenal captain Leah Williamson recently spoke about financial concerns, citing:
"There are some elements of the women’s game that need to catch up. I’m not earning enough to retire after my playing career, so I'm still aiming to complete my accountancy studies in case I need something to fall back on."
If someone at Leah’s level of success is admitting she is not earning enough to be comfortable in the future, then what does that suggest for all the other professional female footballers who aren’t captains of their country or club? These sentiments have been echoed by ex-England and Chelsea player Karen Carney in her 126-page government commissioned review into women’s football, which focuses on the financial sustainability of the game and suggestions for revolutionising the women’s game at all levels. Carney has urged for equal prize money in competitions such as the FA Cup in the near future. Despite the progression of match fees and bonuses being equalised between some countries like Brazil, Ireland and England, prize money at major tournaments is still drastically lower for women’s teams than men’s. The most recent World Cup competitions – arguably the biggest international stage for competitive football – displayed a dire difference of $42M prize money for the men’s 2022 winners, compared to $10.5 million prize winners money for the women’s World Cup in 2023.
The law surrounding equal pay is not clear cut. The Equal Pay Act 1970 and Equality Act 2010 allow for ‘equal pay for equal work’ to be a UK legal employment requirement, however sporting bodies can often argue that female and male athletes do not produce work of the same value. Despite the same expectations and responsibilities, women’s football is not treated with the same level of respect and monetary value. It is hard to imagine any other workplace where the scales of pay are so unequal, and continued to be accepted. The salary discrepancies between male and female footballers is often justified through a sexist lens by the claim that the women’s game does not bring in sufficient revenue, through avenues such as ticket sales, sponsorship deals, and broadcasting rights. However, you don’t need to look far to see the clear signs of a tidal wave of popularity for women’s football. With each year go by we see a massive increase in ticket sales for WSL clubs, despite many of these top tier clubs like Chelsea and Man City having limited capacity home stadiums of less than 10,000 seats. Average attendances to the women’s game increased by 200% after the Lionesses’ historic EURO 2022 win. A report commissioned by Deloitte highlighted that WSL club revenue rose by 60% in the 2021-22 season, showing signs of expansion even before England's landmark EURO 2022 success. Additionally, Sky Sports and BBC TV have recently announced a milestone five-year deal valued at £65 million to stay as the key broadcasters of WSL football, again echoing Karen Carney’s report citing women’s football in England having the potential to become “a billion pound industry.”
The progression in support, visibility and focus on women’s top flight football is a testament to how important the game is. The new heights reached in the last 10 years are something to be celebrated, but more still needs to be done to level the playing field. Players deserve to be treated with respect and as individually elite athletes; not propped up in the shadow of the men’s club. With a new independent enterprise taking over ownership of the top two tiers of English women’s football, there is hope that the game can be elevated to unlimited possibilities. The FA Director for Women’s Football Baroness Sue Campbell expressed her excitement for this move, stating:
“The women’s professional game is in the strongest place that it has ever been… we firmly believe that NewCo will take it to another level entirely.”
With that, I hope comes the levelling of the mammoth scales of gender pay disparity, so that our female footballers can finally receive a more just pay within their workplace. Like in any sphere of inequality, those in power – men - need to be doing more to advocate for and generate change, rather than women having to continue fighting an uphill battle they did not create.
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