Society/Culture The Gender Pay Gap

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Usain Bolt is probably 100 times wealthier than the blokes coming in second to him. Is he 100 times better than them? No. He's at best 0.1 seconds faster than them all - 1% better. If Bolt didn't exist, the bloke running in second would be a world record holder and earning the endorsements.
 
May 5, 2006
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Not sure I would compare your local girls team with a national competition.

The difference in standard wouldn't be that stark given how few people actually play women's footy.

What people need to realise is that domestic level sport is a viable career path to a tiny percentage of people. It's only really the AFL and NRL where the average player makes a good living and even then a huge number of players are in and out of the system within two to three years without really making any money from it. State cricketers, A-League players, NBL players... most of them don't make huge money.

People arguing that women's AFL (I assume that's what the comp will be called) players "deserve" $x are just arguing for the AFL to subsidise the comp.
 
They deserve to be paid based on crowds and (if applicable) TV ratings. Everyone should get a fair slice of the pie, it will just be much less than their male counterparts. If it was based on standard of play, then they'd be paid the same as the U16 boys.
 

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May 5, 2006
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Usain Bolt is probably 100 times wealthier than the blokes coming in second to him. Is he 100 times better than them? No. He's at best 0.1 seconds faster than them all - 1% better. If Bolt didn't exist, the bloke running in second would be a world record holder and earning the endorsements.

As far as being a 100m runner goes, being able to win by a couple of metres while slowing up to look around and smile for the camera is ridiculous. Someone like Cyril or Charlie Cameron probably isn't that much quicker than a lot of other players over 100m, but the burst acceleration gets the crowd excited.

That side, Usain Bolt is extremely marketable. He could win every Diamond League 100/200 double for the year and would make a pittance out of it relative to endorsements. When he retires I don't think the next guy will be as marketable. Bolt is a special case of being fastest man alive + first 3 time 100/200/4x100 Olympics gold medallist + likeable, personable Jamaican mon.
 
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They deserve to be paid based on crowds and (if applicable) TV ratings. Everyone should get a fair slice of the pie, it will just be much less than their male counterparts. If it was based on standard of play, then they'd be paid the same as the U16 boys.

Standard of play doesn't really come into it.

Chinese Super League clubs lose to A-League clubs regularly in the Asian Champion's League yet are spending squillions luring players from Europe and South America. It's the commercial potential of the Chinese market that is driving up wages, not the quality of Chinese teams.

Any new competition starts in the red as you need to spend money to get it off the ground. The women's AFL is no different. You have costs in setting up the clubs, competition etc. then you have ongoing costs for flights, accommodation, stadium operations etc. that need to be recouped. What the players 'deserve' is a matter of opinion. The AFL generates about half a billion each year these days and the players get a slice of that. Enough? Not enough? Too much? Plenty argue each side of that argument. The only thing that's really applicable is rookie/draftee salaries which the AFL sets a floor on. Guys like Sandilands, Cox etc. who are rookie list success stories probably wouldn't have made it if rookie salaries were $20k. If footy is going to be your livelihood (or in the case of the rookie list a potential path to) then you need to earn enough to eat. I know guys like Andrew Strijk put careers on hold and lost tens of thousands each year for a chance at making it as an AFL rookie and didn't quite get there.

Anyway, playing in the AFL is a viable full time job because commercial interest sustains the competition. The salary cap, minimum salaries etc. flow from there. People are jumping ahead with the women's game. Having a national competition you can make a living from doesn't happen overnight and for most sports doesn't happen at all. One step at a time, folks.
 

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As far as being a 100m runner goes, being able to win by a couple of metres while slowing up to look around and smile for the camera is ridiculous. Someone like Cyril or Charlie Cameron probably isn't that much quicker than a lot of other players over 100m, but the burst acceleration gets the crowd excited.

That side, Usain Bolt is extremely marketable. He could win every Diamond League 100/200 double for the year and would make a pittance out of it relative to endorsements. When he retires I don't think the next guy will be as marketable. Bolt is a special case of being fastest man alive + first 3 time 100/200/4x100 Olympics gold medallist + likeable, personable Jamaican mon.
Agreed, Bolt is a unique case. But sport seeks that uniqueness. The issue is you can't drive equity through sport because sport is fundamentally unequal.
 
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Agreed, Bolt is a unique case. But sport seeks that uniqueness. The issue is you can't drive equity through sport because sport is fundamentally unequal.

Exactly right.

Gender pay gap is a silly concept in sport because the genders for the most part don't compete against one another.

'Equality' in footy would be to open the draft up to men and women. But then no women would get drafted and people would be complaining that the AFL isn't an equal opportunity employer...
 
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Not sure I would compare your local girls team with a national competition.

Mens national ice hockey league here in aus doesn't even pay its players at all. its been running longer then the womens league has a national tv coverage on pay tv and still the most players are entitled to is have travel costs covered by the club.
Why? because its not popular and the players have no leverage to demand payment.

the fact that its a "national comp" is meaningless.

this is one of the non issues regarding the pay gap. If the players in the women's afl want more money, protest, threaten not play, start lockouts. (you know the thing workers have to do to get a livable wage right around the world) If the administrators think their worth what their asking, they will get it. If not they may have to get an actual job.

Now if people were arguing that women shouldn't be excluded from a chance a competing in the AFL, they have my support. As long as a woman is not given any concessions and held to the same athletic standards as the men, there's no reason a woman shouldn't be able to try out for the draft.
 
They deserve to be paid based on crowds and (if applicable) TV ratings. Everyone should get a fair slice of the pie, it will just be much less than their male counterparts. If it was based on standard of play, then they'd be paid the same as the U16 boys.

And yet, they're the ones playing footy while you sit and eat pies, watching. :)
 

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I'd say the standard of play is better than 15 year old boys.
Honestly I doubt it. Women's soccer is far more advanced as a sport with a much bigger playing base than women's Australian rules football. Yet elite women's teams lose to boys that age or possibly younger.
 

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I'd say the standard of play is better than 15 year old boys.
Depends what grade boys we are talking about.

It's not far fetched, the Matilda's lost to the Newcastle Jets under 15s boys in a friendly just prior to the olympics.
 

DemonTim

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Honestly I doubt it. Women's soccer is far more advanced as a sport with a much bigger playing base than women's Australian rules football. Yet elite women's teams lose to boys that age or possibly younger.
Yep. As I just said the Matilda's lost to under 15s boys squad. Final score 7-0. It was a flogging, not close at all. It's not far fetched in anyway (and is not sexist, misogynistic or insulting to say it)
 

DemonTim

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I saw myself out...;) the comparison was too much.
why? It happens in soccer with far more experienced players.

You can really tell the people not involved in men's, women's or kids footy here
 

DemonTim

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Yep,you sure can and it isn't me.
So why are you mocking the comparison? TAC cup kids could match a lot of top state level senior players, so why is the comparison so strange that they would have equivalent skills to the women's league?
Plenty of kids are more talented than a lot out there, and some have a lot more playing experience than those in the women's league.
 
I agree, when all one side has is personal attacks and they don't respond to the points made, it's best they stop posting. Doesn't really add anything

lol. This merry-go-round got boring a long time ago.

Please, don't let me interrupt the daily complaints about women posts.
It's not tiresome, at all :rolleyes:
Carry on.
 

DemonTim

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lol. This merry-go-round got boring a long time ago.

Please, don't let me interrupt the daily complaints about women posts.
It's not tiresome, at all :rolleyes:
Carry on.
Where were there complaints about women's posts? It was pointed out that you were incorrect in an assertion you made, and maggie joined you in it.

If you feel it's unfair and it's just because you're female (didn't even know you were, although I don't know the gender of most on here), then refute the points. Show why what's being said is incorrect
 
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