Female athletes should not make as much money as male athletes

First, I would like to call attention to the debate title, in particular the word should. Should is a relative term that expresses obligation or condition, according to Merriam Webster. Should can include what is fair, what is economical, and what is just rather than only considering performance. In terms of fairness, women should be paid as much; Women have been traditionally suppressed in sports, with women's professional sports only coming into fruition during the late 1960's (Wikipedia 1). In contrast, professional men's sports have existed since the ancient Greeks, and therefore its no surprise that men have a large lead in professional sports, since they have been around a lot longer. We don't know what women's sports would be like today if there had been an equal amount of attention to women's sports since the time of the ancient greeks. In order to give women a chance, some initial money is needed in order to attract female athletes and garner public attention. It also does public good by alienating gender roles and making women in general feel equal to men. Should men also be paid more in the work force, because traditionally more men have worked than women? Of course not--gender equality is an important societal value in the United States, and promoting fairness is usually a good thing. Addressing the economical side, the wnba is a relatively new market. Like all business ventures, some initial investment is needed in order to generate profit in the long run. With more and more women becoming involved in sports in first world countries everyday, its an emerging new market that NBA business officials are trying to capitalize on. In 20 years, professional women's sports will likely make substantial profit, and the investment will pay off, since it will be more appealing to women (the other 50% of the worlds population). Therefore, sports should pay women equal amounts compared to men in order to expand a new market and make more profit in the long run. Men also have an unfair chemical advantage known as testosterone, which is know to increase muscle density, volume, and overall strength. The playing field is not fair, and yet by your logic, someone taking steroids should be paid more than someone who isn't taking them because it simply made them stronger. If women took heavy testosterone, they would probably be just as effective as men. However, that would make them deformed, and start to look more like men, so because of gender roles, women often don't do this. In other words, not everything is about maximum performance, else performance enhancing drugs would be the legal norm. Its about fair and even competition between people. Paying for athletes is about relative competition in a bracket. Yes professional women's teams couldn't beat men's professional teams now, but that doesn't mean the competition between women isn't worthwhile, or that women wouldn't win in the future if they were given a chance, especially in sports like Golf, nascar, etc that don't require having more strength than someone else. I would also like to show that women have unexplored potential in many sports (total pro sports) 1. Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back 2. Babe Zaharias competed against her PGA tour men counterparts 3. Seana Hogan holds the distinction of setting the overall ultra cycling record time for the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 1996, she rode that in an incredible 19 hours 11 minutes. To this day, no one (man or woman) has ridden that route faster. The list goes on, but the main point is that female athletes don't receive as much attention as male athletes due to gender roles and the history of the suppression of women. Female athletes have the ability to compete with men in a variety of sports, except they lack brute strength since they have estrogen instead of testosterone. Paying more because someone is stronger is stupid--the strategy and skill is much more important than beating some heads together. THe WNBA doesn't have a female shack, and women don't usually weigh 350 pounds, but they run equally intelligent plays, and implement similarly effective strategies. However, they might have been more competitive in general if women were given equal opportunity to men and gender roles didn't exist throughout history. Paying women equally shows a progressive society, which wants to give equal opportunity and fairness to all its citizens. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org...'s_professional_sports 2. http://www.totalprosports.com...