As we all know, January means the start of a new year, but it also means the start of a 1-month transfer window in the world of football. As we approach the end of this winter transfer window, there is one notable event to report: a record signing in the world of women’s football, with American defender Naomi Girma joining the London-based club Chelsea for an estimated €1.05 million from San Diego Wave. Although this is a record amount, it may still seem derisory to men’s football fans. In fact, the transfer of Brazilian player Neymar Jr to Paris in 2017 was made for a fee 222 times higher than the one mentioned above. While this may seem an astronomical sum to the average person, in recent years there have been a number of player movements for over €100 million, and that mainly in the English Premier League. Coming back to our subject, the transfer of the American defender seems to be a good excuse to take a look at the evolution of salary inequalities in the world of sport, but also at the lack of visibility faced by women’s sports.

In recent years, women’s football has seen considerable growth, with the major leagues, the WSL (English league) and La Liga F (Spanish league) taking the lead. Part of this development involves signing broadcasting contracts with major channels such as Sky Sports and even ESPN. What’s more, LA Liga F has also set up free broadcasts on YouTube to maximize its audience. In addition, attractive prices, often lower than for men’s matches, are offered to attract as many people as possible. However, this progress, while correct, is still too slow, and in subaltern leagues such as Ligue 1 Arkema (France’s 1st division), most of the clubs do not even have professional status, creating considerable discrepancies between teams such as Lyon and Paris, which have players with professional status and therefore no other occupation apart from football. Although this gap between the teams seems normal given the circumstances, it is a disservice to the league, as there is almost no suspense as to who will prevail, thus making the matches uninteresting.

In stark contrast to football, women’s tennis is enjoying considerable popularity, not only because of the audiences and the involvement of major brands such as Nike, Adidas and Lacoste in sponsoring the athletes, but also thanks to the considerable engagement that the matches generate on social networks. As well as being in the spotlight, women tennis players enjoy the same earning opportunities as men. It’s important to know that the men’s and women’s tennis tours do not always play the same tournaments, meaning that the distribution of the prize money is at the discretion of the organizers. However, in the 4 major tournaments known as the Grand Slams, men and women compete for the title simultaneously. It is therefore at these tournaments that the prize money is similar to that since 2007. At the grand slam known as the US Open and considered the one with the highest prize pool, held in New York, athletes compete for a total prize pool of 75 million dollars, with the winners of the Singles tournament claiming an estimated prize money of 3.6 million dollars. At these tournaments, spectators can buy tickets giving them access to a court on which men’s and women’s matches are played alternately, resulting in similar attendance figures for men and women and preventing any choice based on the gender of athletes.

To conclude, I wanted to show the glaring differences in the way women and men are treated in two of the world’s most watched sports. Although they are different sports with different contexts, the example of tennis is undeniable proof that women’s sports can also be popular and that this popularity inspires many young women, through phenomenal athletes such as one of the most successful and respected tennis player: Serena Williams. Hence, if relatively similar popularity is possible, there’s no reason why similar earnings couldn’t be. The only obstacle is the will to make the change. Almost 20 years have passed since it took place in the world of tennis, while many talented women still can’t make a living from playing football.