Prior to the early 1970 women did not have teams or similar programs that the males had. In 1972 the government finally stepped in and passed Title IX of the Educational Amendments. Today women are given many opportunities to participate in sports. While opportunities have increased for women, the equal rights of men and women's athletics are still heavily favoring men's athletics'. Many sports played by women are still seen as inferior to men sports.
Men can make a wealth profession from playing professional sports.
Women have little to no options, as there are few professional women's team. The NBA and the WNBA are examples of a professional sport that both men and women have there own league. Main reason for the salary difference is that people are willing to pay a larger amount to see a NBA game. Also the NBA has spent millions in advertisements. In most cases, women's athletics programs are seriously lacking the funds as compared to men's programs.