Lets talk money: Wage gaps are so last season

As the WNBA season comes to an end and champions are made, it is time to talk money. The overpowering stigma of discussing salaries can wait. These women are working just as hard, sometimes harder, than the men in the NBA for their paychecks.

We as a sports fanbase give these athletes the title of professional for a reason—they know what they are doing when it comes to the basketball court. What we do not realize is for the same content, these female athletes, according to Forbes online, are receiving an average salary of $71,635 while the NBA’s minimum salary is $582,180, making $510,545 more than women. That is ridiculous.

Now, I understand that the fanbase for women’s sports are not as popular as men’s most of the time because people only want to watch women do stuff if they are in skimpy outfits. I am not sure if it will ever be as popular, but this wage gap is insane. These women are literally doing the same exact job.

Take the U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT) for example. They have consecutively won more titles than the U.S. men’s team and still do not receive as much pay as the men’s team. What sense does that make? Even compared to the WNBA, I would argue that the women’s soccer team is much more popular than the men’s. If it is not based out of popularity, then what is it based off of? Blatant difference in gender?

Back in March, the women’s team sued the federation for gender and pay discrimination. Megan Rapione, a USWNT midfielder and advocate for equal pay, told Fox News, "I guess other than just not believing that we deserve it or not willing to pay, I think it's really counterintuitive, you have two really amazing products in both the men's and women's teams that are both very successful by a lot of different metrics. It's a huge growing business. Soccer in general is growing exponentially in the country, so why not be able to leverage your best assets instead of fighting them all the time?"

The USWNT have been the leaders behind the #EqualPay movement and have continued to do so by spreading awareness all through their World Cup championship tours. Their idea to start the buzz has advanced to all kinds of women’s sports.

For young girls, women’s sports having a presence in the media is a huge element into their continuance of sports. If they see and can idolize these women, it keeps the sport alive and provides these girls with positivity and feminist ideals—women can do as much as men. What we need now is for women to make as much as men.

Growing up playing basketball, I never cared for Lebron James as much as I was obsessed with Elena Delle Donne. I would never become a 6’8 250lb man making millions of dollars, but playing college sports and making a difference in the world did seem possible to me.

The way to combat this wage gap is by supporting these women’s teams. In the long run, it will take many years to fix the overall difference in wages between men and women, but we need to start now. It's time that we not only head to Chicago Bulls games, but we head to Chicago Sky games. Heck, their seasons do not even coincide, so there is plenty of time to catch a game.

As college students, we can start here at EC by supporting our women’s teams. I am not asking for you to only attend women’s sporting events, but make it equal. It is time we realize that women are just as strong as men and deserve as much pay.