To
some female athletes, Donna Lopiano’s article “Purse Snatching” speaks on
behalf of them, arguing that female athletes should have the same salaries as
male athletes. Lopiano argues that females are underpaid due to sexism when in
reality their paychecks have nothing to do with their sex. Their paychecks
reflect their achievements. Male athletes have worked for years to achieve
exposure, investments, and the salaries they have today. This generalization
implies that any woman paid less than a man is a victim of sexism which is not
always the case. Women are not inferior to males; therefore that is not what
their salaries are reflecting. When women are bringing in the same attention
and same investment that men are, they will be worthy of the same paychecks.
The facts need to be faced; anywhere we work in life, higher salaries and
raises will need to be achieved.
In “Purse Snatching” statistics are used by the author in
an attempt to sway her audience in her direction. Ms. Lopiano has a very feminist point of view
because she believes that no matter what, female athletes should be paid the
same amount as male athletes. The
author’s statistics are quite ineffective in convincing her readers to take her
side and it is easy for someone to build a counter-argument disputing those
statistics. Ms. Lopiano states that the
women’s tennis tour is more appealing than the men’s tennis tour but that is an
opinion rather than a proven fact (52).
The author also states that the pay for female professional basketball
players should be the same—if not more—than men because it only took the WNBA
two years to reach 10,000 spectators a game but it took the NBA 30 years
(Lopiano 52). This statistic doesn’t
really mean anything because of course it’s going to take longer for people to
take interest in basketball when the sport is brand new. Also, just because women have reached 10,000
spectators at a game doesn’t mean they are bringing in comparable profits to
the NBA. The author said that the WNBA
players had a hard time getting a minimum salary of $20,000 a year (Lopiano
52). However, according to
womensbasketballonline.com, WNBA salaries have been raised to a minimum of
about $35,000 because more interest has been achieved since the article was
written. Women have also made their way
into NASCAR and other “manly” racing sports since this article was
written. The author says that a woman
should be paid what she’s worth (Lopiano 52).
I agree with this statement only if the woman brings in good
profits. If a mediocre male athlete
brings in more revenue than a woman who is a superstar, then the mediocre male
deserves to be paid more. If this
situation was the other way around I would say the same thing. A male OR a female athlete only deserves to
be paid an amount based on the revenue they bring in.
In
“ Purse Snatching” Lopiano states that women’s sports has done enough to
establish itself as equal to men’s sports, but because of sex discrimination, they
are unable to receive the same amount of pay.
She talks about how women’s sports needs people who are willing to risk
money to exploit the market, but sex discrimination gets in the way. She
attempts to make an argument using her conversation with the high school boys
about boxers competing in different weight classes (Lopiano 52). However, this
argument is ineffective because men’s and women’s sports are distinct and
should not be compared because men and women have different strengths and
weaknesses. She also compares the WNBA players’ salary to the NBA players’
salary. This argument is also ineffective because she fails to mention that
WNBA games have a narrower audience. This
is an unfair argument because the NBA has been more broadly exposed due to
having been around much longer. If the WNBA expands its television exposure it
would surely earn the same as the NBA.
Before women attempt to start an
argument concerning woman’s sports, they must first acknowledge the great
amount of time it took males to reach the peak it is at today. When male sports
first started up their salaries were low, just as women’s are today. Women
would like to be treated equally, so it is only fair that they take the time to
work up to peak profits just as men have. As time passes, exposure will
advance, audiences will grow, investments will increase, and ultimately
salaries will rise. Fame can be discovered overnight, but fortune on the other
hand takes time.
