The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) conference finals conclude this week. However, attention is far from being focused on what is happening on the ground.
Recently, WNBA players have been more outspoken about the pay gap between their salaries and those of National Basketball Association (NBA) players. Skylar Diggins-Smith has been the face of this movement, as in May she started the conversation on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
Diggins-Smith said of the pay gap: “It’s disappointing. Many of us play two seasons, one overseas and one for the WNBA. So you could say we have a longer season and do an equal job. We have a lot to do.”
The problem, frankly, goes well beyond basketball. The problem is the systematic oppression of women in the sports industry.
Sport has always been a male-dominated field. Athletes, team owners and the people who cover them. They are mainly men. The first woman to call play-by-play for an NFL game was Beth Mowins, who did so in 2017.
When women start playing the same sports at the highest level, there is undoubtedly an unconscious dislike for their league from fans of the men’s league of the same sport. This is the root of the problem that prevents WNBA players from earning even a quarter of what NBA players make.
Every time a WNBA player makes a comment about the wage gap, social media explodes. You see the same comments on social media about these athletes every time. Basketball fans behind the screen will say that any high school team could beat the WNBA All-Stars and they all belong in the kitchen. While this may simply be a way to get social media attention, it reveals a worrying dynamic for society as a whole.
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner said in an interview, “WNBA players don’t do shit,” and in the future, WNBA players may sit out unless they are paid more. As a reminder, Griner is one of the highest paid players in the WNBA, earning around $110,000.
The salary cap for WNBA athletes is $110,000. The minimum salary for an NBA player with no league experience is nearly eight times that amount, or $838,000.
While it’s true that the WNBA doesn’t have nearly the viewership of the NBA, the league is no less entertaining. There are rarely dunks and the athleticism is less. However, there is more to basketball than just dunk and athleticism. The WNBA has a lot to offer in terms of technique and team play that any true basketball fan will appreciate.
If you consider yourself a basketball fan, but you don’t support WNBA players getting bigger contracts, you are not a true basketball fan. The popularity of the WNBA and NBA is a good thing for basketball.
As a basketball fan myself, I wish there was more acceptance and tolerance towards the WNBA and the very real wage gap it faces. They need more viewers to make more money, so start watching. Get involved and enjoy this sport that is quickly rivaling soccer in popularity in the United States, and fight the hatred that spreads on social media every time a talented athlete is rightly upset about being underpaid .
