Womens football, Paygap, how is this legal and why is no one talking about it?

[Stupidbonfire]

Just as the title says really. I don’t understand how it’s legal to pay the women footballers so much less. The equality’s act 2010 seems to support equal pay for effort put in.

Am I being stupid? Could someone explain to me how the law is applied in this instance that it’s legal for such pay disparity and why the media seems silent on addressing it?

The women footballers have done our country proud and surely they deserve the same remuneration as the men would.

thank you so much.

And of course professional men's teams don't all pay the same - either within one club, or between clubs (where the difference is startling).

If you are going to say that there should be no marked pay gap for work of same effort, how are you going to start to reduce the gap within the men's game from £200k a week (Harry Kane) to £3,400 a week (highest paid player at Fleetwood Town)

I'm always astonished at how much the famous (crowd-drawing) players are paid

I’m also quite skeptical that this (amazing) Euros win will significantly boost WSL attendances.

Football is notoriously relatively unpopular in the US, but their women’s national team is massively successful and easily the highest profile women’s national team. Participation rates among girls in playing grass roots soccer are higher than in the UK.

Even with that backdrop, the men’s major league soccer games have an average attendance of around 20k and the women’s only gets around 5k.

And that’s with both leagues (mens and womens) being fairly new, so it’s not like supporters have been going to see their local mens team for generations.

it just seems that, outside of international tournaments, the interest in the women’s game isn’t there.

"Soccer" is a bit of a family sport in the US so it will have a long way to go to displace the other big sports over there. I think the college system helps with womens football popularity as well as that's quite high profile too, I've got a couple of friends with daughters playing over there in college and its a great life.

I see the BBC have announced a few more live games and it will be interesting to see what the September attendances are for the next England games. Sadly I share a bit of your cynicism, I recall the same buzz after London 2012 but maybe the global pull of football will help increase grass root participation as that's where the key will be, not just increased interest in the top level of the game.

The England v US game sold out in 24hours.

Arsenal have sold 16k tickets for their opening game. All season tickets are sold out.

Chelsea have sold 40k tickets for their opening game.

But sure women don't want to watch domestic football.

Oh come on, it's not hard to figure out.

There's only been a general womens football thread on mumsnet for a few days.

Pretty much every mention of football in a mumsnet thread descents into abuse with people saying they hate it, why are the players paid so much, why do they always fall over, why is it on instead of Coronation Street.

Men and boys talk about football all the time. Women and girls hardly ever.

Womens football is getting bigger and will get bigger in the coming years. But it will never be as popular as mens football and the womens footballers will never be paid as much. Because women aren't as interested in football as men are.

Don't you think there would be an increase in the numbers of women and girls talking about and watching football if was something they were involved in? Obviously not all females will be interested (but not all men are - I'm the football fan in our house DH couldn't care less) but if girls are given the opportunity to play and develop an understanding of the game then surely more of them will be interested in watching (be that men's matches or women's).
The Euros also showcased the women's game to loads of male fans that may have written it off in the past - while the women's game isn't the same as the men's it's not the non league level that it is being described as by some. Yes the Lionesses wouldn't be able to hold their own against top male players but that is to do with the differences in strength & speed between men and women not the level of skill.

but if girls are given the opportunity to play and develop an understanding of the game then surely more of them will be interested in watching (be that men's matches or women's).

The clubs are there for women/girls to join, more a case of getting parents to take their daughters along.

England Youth Football

I did a search on my postcode and found there are 8 local clubs within 2 miles of my home that have girls teams.

But sure women don't want to watch domestic football.

How do you know the demographics of who bought the tickets?

I did a search on my postcode and found there are 8 local clubs within 2 miles of my home that have girls teams.

Exactly 40 years ago when I was a kid there was nothing for girls - the first opportunity I got to play was at university. It was a weird thing in my generation to be a girl who liked football. If pretty much every girl is exposed to football (and rugby and cricket) like pretty much every boy has been for generations then there will be more female fans but the women's game has to be visible or they will either lose interest or watch the men's game because it's the default.

That’s great re. Arsenal and Chelsea. If that level of interest can be maintained, it will make a massive difference.