Maminski 1

Mia Maminski

Constance Oliver

Rhetoric 101

November 4, 2017

Is It Equal

The pay gap between men and women should be equal because there is no reason men

should be paid more than women for doing the same work. For many years women were not able

to work as they were supposed to stay home and take care of children, but years later that finally

changed. Woman started off with little pay and low skilled jobs and have worked up to bigger

jobs and more pay but, the pay is still not equal.

Today women make seventy-nine cents to a mans dollar for doing the same job and that

is only if they are white. The government treats women of color like they are less than white

women as well, so there is an even bigger pay gap. The black woman only makes sixty-three

cents and latina only make fifty-four cents. The average white women only make 79% of what a

man earns for the same work, in the same job, and doing the exact same things. The average

black women earn 65% and the average Latina women earn only 54% (Leber). In 1963 John F.

Kennedy made it illegal for employers to pay men more than women in the same job, known as

the equal pay act. Still, after many years the wage gap still persists. The EPA prohibits sex-

based wage discrimination, requiring employers to pay the same wage to men and women who

perform "equal work on jobs ... which require equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which

are performed under similar working conditions" (Brinlee). But the act allows for men to be paid
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a higher wage than their female counterparts on the basis of seniority, merit, productivity, and "a

differential based on any other factor other than sex (Brinlee). With this, it makes it very

difficult for women to prove they are paid less than men. For years in the sports industry, there

has been a pay difference for the same sport doing the same things, but women sports are looked

at as less of a sport for not being as aggressive or as intense, so they are paid less.

In soccer the pay gap is very large amongst winnings, player salary, and pay ceilings. For

soccer mens and womens teams they play the same game times, the same amount of league

games, and the same amount of training yet they get paid differently. Both play 90-minute

games; 45-minute halves with 10-minute halftime. Each team is scheduled to play the same

amount league games in season, not including tournaments. In tournaments the prize money is

not equal for example, In 2015, despite nearly 23 million people tuning in to watch the women

play (and win) in the World Cup final, the team collectively earned $2 million $6 million less

than the U.S. men's team, which lost in the first round of knockouts (Ohikuare). The Mens US

National soccer team was paid 8 million dollars in total for losing in the first round of the

tournament but still are paid 6 million dollars more than the womens team who won the whole

tournament. Tournaments like the FIFA World Cup are not equal towards women as, The total

payout for the Womens World Cup this year is $15 million, while FIFA awarded a total of $576

million to mens teams in the World Cup last year (Ohikuare). Some would say the men sell

more merchandise and that is why they get more money, but they are wrong. The Womens

National Team sold more merchandise and had more tickets sold than any Mens National team

has before, yet they still get paid less. Not just in tournaments are women paid less, but in player

salary there is a huge gap as well. Player salary is a 40% pay difference between men and

women but for no reason as men are just looked at more valuable (Close). The US womens team
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has a pay ceiling per player of $37,800 compared to an average of more than $300,000 for mens

team for no reason, the womens team sold more tickets, more merchandise, and more fans than

the mens team ever has. In soccer all over the world, this is an issue that has finally been

brought up as Womens National soccer team is standing up for women all over to close the gap

(Close). Not only is the gap a huge issue in soccer but in tennis as well.

Another sport with a large pay gap for years is tennis with rankings, season salary, and

tournament winnings. The pay gap between a woman in the top 100 and her opposite number

on the mens tour is $120,624 for doing the same exact thing the only difference is gender

(Rothenberg). In tennis people look at womens tennis as less of a sport than mens tennis

because tennis has been a male-dominated sport. In overall rankings the same ranked woman and

man there is gap, the woman is getting less than the man but for no reason. Women work just as

hard as the men do if not harder but get less than a man will. In 2009 On average, female pros

earned 23.4% logged dollars less than their male peers (Morales). Women earned less overall

throughout the season no matter what happened, and even if a man gets hurt in his season he still

makes more money than a woman will in her full season. Not only is it bad on rankings and the

season, but in tournaments as well there is a huge gap between winnings earned. Recently

Roger Federer received $731,000 for defending his title at the tournament, while Serena

Williams received $495,000 for defending her title hours later (Rothenberg). But for no

difference they both played the same tournament, the same number of matches, and both

defended their winning title but was paid less there is no equal prize money in tournaments.

Some people would argue the reason for the pay gap is that men play best-of-five sets while

women play best of three but only for major tournament, as in normal season men and women

play the same amount of sets. Still, in smaller tournaments there is no equal payment for
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winnings which what they play more before all the larger tournaments. Tennis has though

improved in major tournaments, currently after many years some tournaments now have been

changing to equal prize money such as the; US Open, Australian Open, French Open, and

Wimbledon.Over time there has been improvement in the pay gap through womens rights and

movements, but there is still a long way to go.

Over time there has been an improvement of equal pay through womens movements,

teams, and pledges to help fight but we still have a long way to go. Right now, there are two

womens movements which are the National Organization for Women and the Womens United

States National soccer team. Not only that but currently, 29 companies have newly committed

to the White House Equal Pay Pledge (Knoepp) and more continue to pledge to support women

in equal pay. More and more organizations are created to support women each day such as;

Equal Rights Advocates, Women Employed, 9 to 5, United States Women's Bureau, Business

and Professional Women's foundation, and the United States Women's National Soccer. Over the

years the government has started getting more involved as in 2009 President Obama signed the

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring the protection against pay discrimination. This act was

made because

The Act reinstates prior law and makes clear that pay discrimination claims on the basis of sex,

race, national origin, age, religion and disability accrue whenever an employee receives a

discriminatory paycheck, as well as when a discriminatory pay decision or practice is adopted,

when a person becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when a person is otherwise

affected by the decision or practice (Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, National Womens Law

Center). When this act came to light, it showed how much money women have been cheated out

of overtime, as for Lilly Ledbetter was given $3.3 million in compensatory and punitive
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damages for the extreme nature of the pay discrimination to which she had been subjected

(Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, National Womens Law Center) over years for working for the

same company.

As this grows the gap will get smaller and smaller to where men and women are equally

paid.

The controversy behind whether women should get the same pay for sports is big because

of the differences between the sports. Mens soccer and womens soccer are played the same but

the mens league can be more aggressive, skilled, and popular than womens league. That is why

women should get less because it is not as intense or skilled as the mens game. Which is true

mens soccer and womens soccer are different in ways but that doesnt mean it is not as intense

or skilled, womens soccer is just as popular as mens. Serena Williams is one of the most skilled

female tennis players and is just as skilled as any of the men players as she has shown with her

record. Others think that the men have more sales in merchandise and tickets, but that is not

correct as the womens team sold thousands of more merchandise and more tickets than the

mens team ever has. That works for tennis as well since in tournaments they play different

amounts of sets within their matches, the men play 5 sets where the women only play 3. Men

should get paid more because they play more than the women as well as the mens league is

more popular than womens so more views, more tickets, and more money. But what people

dont know is that is only the case in big tournaments, where in regular season and tournaments

men and women play the same amount. Not just in sports as in business women get paid less

because they dont work as hard as men or do as much, but that is not true because women work

just as hard and do the same things men do.

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Woman started off with little paying jobs and lower jobs overtime they have worked up

to bigger jobs and more pay but, the pay is still not equal. The government treats women like

they are less than a man because of this. Not only in the business world but for years in the sports

industry, there has been a pay difference for the same sport doing the same things, but women

sports are looked at as less of a sport for not being as aggressive or as intense, so they are paid

less. This is not true as male and female sports may have differences but overall are doing the

same thing, so there is no reason a man should get paid more than women.
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Works Cited

Brinlee, Morgan. Why Didn't The Equal Pay Act Close The Gender Pay Gap? 50 Years

Later, America Still Has A Major Problem. Bustle, Bustle, 12 Apr. 2016,

www.bustle.com/articles/154078-why-didnt-the-equal-pay-act-close-the-gender-pay-gap-50-

years-later-america-still.

Close, Kerry. U.S. Women's Soccer: How Big Is Wage Gap Between Sexes? | Money.

Time, Time, 31 Mar. 2016, time.com/money/4277843/us-womens-soccer-equal-pay/.

Knoepp, Lilly. These 57 Companies Are Committed To Equal Pay. Forbes, Forbes

Magazine, 29 Aug. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/lillyknoepp/2016/08/26/these-55-companies-

are-committed-to-equal-pay/#4c4770853dbf.

Leber, Rebecca. The Gender Pay Gap Is Bad. The Gender Pay Gap for Women of Color

Is Even Worse. New Republic, New Republic, 14 Apr. 2015,

newrepublic.com/article/121530/women-color-make-far-less-78-cents-mans-dollar.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. NWLC, NWLC, 29 Jan. 2013, nwlc.org/resources/lilly-

ledbetter-fair-pay-act/.

National Committee on Pay Equity NCPE. National Committee on Pay Equity NCPE,

15 Sept. 2017, pay-equity.org/.

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Ohikuare, Judith. A Look At The Gender Pay Gap In Sports History. History Of The

Sports Gender Pay Gap, Refinery 29, 21 Sept. 2017, 4:00 pm,

www.refinery29.com/2017/09/171089/sports-gender-pay-gap-history.

Rothenberg, Ben. Roger Federer, $731,000; Serena Williams, $495,000: The Pay Gap in

Tennis. The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/sports/tennis/equal-pay-gender-gap-grand-slam-majors-wta-

atp.html.

Women Deserve Equal Pay. National Organization for Women, National Organization

for Women, now.org/resource/women-deserve-equal-pay-factsheet/.