Football is one of the UK’s oldest and traditionally male-orientated sports, dating back to 1863, when England was the very first country to develop and codify the game. Since then, football has and will always remain, the largest sport to play and to watch in the UK, with 67% of men and 33% of women supporting the game, according to statistics collected by Kantar. When the data is broken down more, there are roughly 7.7million female football fans in the UK, up 26% from July 2015. So as female spectator rates continue to rise, how do the statistics for play compare?
The Women’s Football Association (FA), was formed in 1969, with the first World Cup for women taking place three years later. 50 years down the line, and women’s football has continually risen in popularity, though it doesn’t quite satisfy statistics for men in football. With drastic steps taken to create a more inclusive environment for female footballers, you would assume that within 50 years, much would have changed. However, despairingly there has been little progress in the wake of wages, sponsorship, television audience numbers and spectator rates.
Here at ticketgum.com, we sought to highlight the shocking pay difference between men and women. Granted, there are a number of factors that determine a footballer’s wage, but for female footballers who have participated in the World Cup, Premier League games and other football events, it should be realistically a level playing field.
We spoke to a young man, Oliver, aged 27 who very much believes in the gender pay gap in football, explaining that ‘it is fair that women get less pay then men in football. The quality from men and the standards are much higher. They also train more and spectator rates are greater for men than women. I tried watching a female match once, and was quickly bored.’
We assessed the prize money won from the World Cup. Male champions in football collectively as a team, receive approximately £27.3million, compared to women who receive a meagre 10% of that figure, roughly £1.56million. Moreover, we found that men are rewarded four times more money, when eliminated in the first round (£6.34million), compared to women!
Interestingly, the England women’s football team put on a spectacular performance at the Women’s World Cup in 2015, coming third. Compared to the year before, the men’s football team for England had their chances eliminated at the knock out stages. Once again, if you compare the two salaries of Wayne Rooney, the England male captain, and Steph Houghton the women’s captain, Rooney earns a staggering £300,000 a week. When you do a little more maths, Rooney receives on average £536 more in on hour, than Houghton earns in a week. Finally, Carlos Tevez, the world’s most expensive footballer earns more in one week, than the world’s top female players collectively earn in one year!
Photo credits: Left to right Maxisport/Shutterstock and AGIF/Shutterstock
So is there a reason that women’s football is paid significantly less than their male counterparts?
Remarkably, football is the most popular sport for women in the UK, as much as it is for men.The number of female football fans buying tickets for football matches and girls joining football clubs seem to be rising each year however the women’s team football matches are still not gaining much support from the public as much as the men’s.
Women’s football is considered to be played at much slower pace than men, as well as the technicalities of the game emphasised, rather than the fast and aggressive play, that is synonymous with men’s football. Men’s football also has deep pockets, reaching to private investors, spectators and supporters of the game from international companies, in comparison to women’s football. With only six of the 37 FA Executive Committee members female, the task to bridge the football gender pay gap is not easy to achieve, when you remain outnumbered.
Ultimately, more needs to be done publicly to support women in football. The Women’s Football Show on BBC Two is now to show highlights of the Women’s Super League One Series, as well as ensuring matches are aired on their website. BT Sport will also stream a number of women’s football games live, enabling the media to cover women a lot more than they currently do.
What are your thoughts on the football gender pay gap? Get in touch now.
Photo credit: Mitch Gunn/Shutterstock
