How Equal Are Male and Female Sports?

When talking about gender inequality in sports one of the most discussed topics is the difference in salaries in bonuses between male and female athletes. The most primary example is the NBA compared to the WNBA. The NBA started in 1946 and the WNBA started in 1996. Even though the men's league has been around longer the difference in salaries is crazy. The minimum salary for a WNBA athlete is $37,950 which compares to the salary of the top 10% of bank tellers and many other job. The maximum salary was $107,000 which can only be earned if you have played six seasons, that is equal to the top 10% of editor's salary. On the other hand There are at least 52 athletes in the NBA who made more than the total WNBA's salary in 2013-2014. Kobe Bryant made $30,453,805 which is almost three times the WNBA's salary of $10,368,000. He is one of many men professional basketball players who's salary is not only equal to but more than the entire WNBA's salary. http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyadler/52-nba-players-who-make-more-than-the-entire-wnba#.qfk6zrGEW

Candace Parker  WNBA All-star MVP in 2013

Kobe Bryant who was the first player in NBA history to get 47 points in a game in 2013

                                                 
Not only is it between the NBA and WNBA but in any sport do the salaries have a drastic difference. During the PGA tour the total prize money is $265,000,000 which makes it five times the amount of LPGA award of $50,000,000. Also in 2003 when the U.S. women's  national soccer team came in third in the world cup each player got a bonus of $25,000 and would have gotten $58,000 if they won. While the U.S, men's national soccer team in 2002, got a bonus of $200,000 for reaching the quarterfinals in the world cup.

The effort of making male and female sports equal started with the passing of Title IX in 1972.  This made it required schools who received federal money to give equal opportunities between male and female sports programs. The improvement of female sports teams over time has be awesome in expanding in size and requiring a female's team for every sport and if not the females are allowed to play in the male league.The main reason of the salary gaps is because male sports are more popular than female. More people watch a NBA than a WNBA so the money goes into the male program than female which is the same with any sport. That also goes with sponsors and endorsements since more people watch the male games than women's they put the effort and money into backing up a male team than women's. Being a girl myself I personally don't think there will ever be a time in the near future where female athletes will be making the similar salaries to male athletes. It is hard to compare because of the much greater popularity male sport teams have over female ones. It just creates a much larger airing time for the male athletes than female athletes causing their popularity to decrease along with the money towards that sport.