Foul Pay: The Gender Wage Gap is Hurting Women’s Collegiate Sports
By: Abigail Karas
Tags: Basketball, College, Women, Sports, Wage Gap

Image taken from unoprivateers.com

“They’re running late, but I told them it’s fine because the men’s game doesn’t even start until 4,” I overhear bits of conversation as I walk into the basketball arena in a swarm of college students. It’s my university’s homecoming basketball game and as we’re filing into the student section, quips and opinions about the games fly. The women’s game is set for 2pm, with the men’s to follow. As I watch the women fly across the court, strategically weaving around the other players, I wonder ‘why is the women’s game regarded as an opening act, a preamble meant to energize the crowd for the main event?’ These basketball players work just as hard, train for just as long, and have the skills it takes to play collegiate sports.

Is it because they are female that their athletic achievements are judged as being inferior to the men’s team? Perhaps it goes deeper than the fans’ base level sexist point of view, whether subconscious or not. At my university, the marketing for the men’s basketball team is pushed harder and more skillfully to students and the community than the women’s team. This could simply be because the men’s team has more resources and is able to pay their marketing team at a higher rate for better quality work.

As a University of New Orleans student, I am the demographic that the teams’ marketing endeavors are attempting to reach. I see the posts on the university athletics’ social media pages. I also fall into the idea that was spoken by my peers at the homecoming game. The men’s basketball team is our school’s crowning glory of athletics, oh and the women’s team is there, too.

But this isn’t unique to my university. Women’s sports at American universities hardly ever receive the same attention that men’s sports do. Almost everyone in America has heard of Louisiana State University football, but not many people know that LSU’s women’s gymnastics team is second in the nation. The idea we have in our heads about what women’s sports are supposed to be, what men’s sports are supposed to be, and why that binary is even in place, all stem from patriarchal views on femininity. We have made progress in recent years but the fight for equal treatment and equal pay is far from over. An analysis by The Atlantic breaks down the imbalance of the womens basketball team’s earnings versus what the men’s team earned. The differences in pay are usually tied to how much outside funding the team receives, and this is usually greater for men’s teams.

The problem seems to have its root in money. The gender wage gap is amplified in the sports industry and appears to be the top answer for why the women’s teams aren’t respected like an all-male team. Coaches’ salaries in Division I college basketball have increased in recent years. However, coaches of women’s programs continue to earn significantly less than coaches of men’s programs. According to an article published by The New York Times in 2012, the average salary for the coach of an N.C.A.A. Division I men’s team increased by 67 percent to $267,007 from 2003 to 2010. The average salary for the coach of a women’s team only increased by 16 percent to $98,106.

With these questions still circling my head like vultures ready for me to give up, I decided to see for myself if the University of New Orleans athletics budget reflects the analysis conducted by The New York Times. Although we are not a Division I school, the women’s coach’s salary might still be a fraction of the men’s coach. With this information, I got in touch with the person in charge of my school’s budget in the Office of Business Affairs.

After asking for the athletic department budget, specifically the payroll information I was ignored. I had explained that I needed the information for a time-sensitive school assignment, and even went so far as to send a follow up email checking on the status of the request. The next day, she emailed me back with two excerpts from the 2018–19 budget breakdown. These budget screenshots give a surface-level outline of where the University of Louisiana System spends money in relation to collegiate sports.

The difference in the numbers between the two reports was surprising in an “I assumed but to see it in numbers is shocking” kind of way. In charges other than payroll alone, the UNO men’s basketball team is working with $627,750. That money is allotted to “additional compensation”, “related benefits”, “travel”, “operating services”, “supplies”, “professional services”, “other charges”, and “scholarships.” For the same categories, the women’s team has $401,390.

University of New Orleans Men’s Basketball budget breakdown other charges

University of New Orleans Women’s Basketball budget breakdown other charges

As for payroll, the difference in pay is almost half as much. The UNO men’s basketball coach, Mark Edward Slessinger, makes $152,000 compared to Keeshawn Carter Davenport, the women’s coach, who makes $87,500. This is a $64,500 gap between the salary of a man for a men’s team vs a woman for a women’s team.

The University of New Orleans Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Salaries

The University of New Orleans Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Salaries

While this seems like complete robbery to me, a young female tuition-paying student at this institution, I always try to see an issue from all sides. Perhaps the women’s team isn’t as skilled as the men’s team, and that is why they don’t get attention or equal pay. With a quick check of the statistics on the UNO athletics website, it becomes clear that the collegiate players’ skill sets are relatively similar.

University of New Orleans Men’s Basketball Stats

University of New Orleans Women’s Basketball Stats

Shania Woods, the top scoring player on the women’s team, boasts a total of 399 points. The highest scorer for the men’s team, Bryson Robinson, has accumulated 31 less points, with a total of 368 points.

The inequity of the budget allotted to the men’s and the women’s teams makes the women’s team seem like an afterthought. The student body and the team’s fans sense this, and disregard the team, as well. The amount between the stats of the UNO women’s players and the men’s players isn’t far enough to warrant a budget gap $344,670 wide.

The worst is that it seems to be ignored. We talk about the gender wage gap, but we hardly look into our institutions or careers that are a part of our daily lives in which the gap is steadily growing. The popular statistic that “a woman makes 80 cents to the dollar that a man makes for the same job” is proven not only in sports, but in medicine.

A poll done by Medscape to around 20,000 American doctors found that in 2018, male primary care physicians earned 18% more than female physicians. In 2019, the gap increased to 25%. The average male doctor makes $258,000 in a year, while the female doctor will make around $207,000.

As with all things, there are extenuating circumstances that prohibit female doctors from making more money other than just an uneven base pay. Most of the physician’s income is generated from the amount of patients the physician is able to see. Often in medical institutions, male doctors are given schedules that allow them to see more people, and their female colleagues end up having to spend more time on paperwork and related tasks.

Extenuating factors are also at play in how much revenue the women’s team at my university accrues. The UNO Privateers athletics Instagram posts updates and photos of each of our teams to their 1,825 followers. Since the beginning of 2019, they have made 28 posts about the men’s team and 8 posts about the women’s. Moreover, the women’s team’s Instagram, privateerswbb, has 368 followers with an average of 19 likes. The men’s team’s Instagram page, privateersmbb, has 455 followers with an average of 48 likes.

As the target audience of the social media marketing for UNO athletics, I am not as familiar with the women’s basketball players, but I have seen the men’s players featured multiple times on the internet. With better marketing for the women’s team, their games might not be seen as something to watch while you’re waiting for the men’s game to start, but rather an autonomous force to be reckoned with all on their own.

The quips and comments from those around me at the University of New Orleans homecoming game come sharply back into focus. Though women’s sports may not see a future where the wage gap is closed, we, as fans, can do our part to support the women that dedicate their lives to athletics — a world that makes it nearly impossible for them to make a living while their male counterparts are buying Maybachs in the Hills.