The Wimbledon Championships will now offer equal prize money to its male and female competitors. That's no good. Next they're gonna start thinking they can play on smaller courts and not wear those little skirts. I know, I know. I'm working on getting smacked here, but in all seriousness its about equal pay for equal work. I'm glad I've never had to deal with any glass ceiling and think its a shame that it holds some people back.
I hate to say it, but I side with the French on this one. They award more money to the guys based on the fact that they do more work, just like Wimbledon used to before they lost their stones. Guys play best of 5 set matches, while the women only duel to 3. I'm not even going to bring quality of play into this, but its a more demanding version of the sport based on format alone. Why then shouldn't it be compensated justly? Women are actually getting paid more per set here. You don't usually hear women complaining about benefiting from sexism, but this is a fairly tangible example. If there was another mens' league that was paid less than the standard men because the rules were easier, do you think anyone would change the pay scales?
But I don't want to discount the rise in popularity of women's tennis. Sure, more people want to see women play tennis, so its more valuable because its more marketable. But is it the same as a 5 set women's format would be? And if there is demand for a 3 set match, maybe the men should be playing less tennis too.
Its only an opinion, and its in the minority; don't get so worked up.
No comments:
Post a Comment