Pay equity For the Rich

The was a brief article in some of the national media earlier this week that questioned why Bianca Andreescu, who won the Roger's Cup Women's Tournament earned approximately half of what the winner of the men's tournament won. The only reason why CBC and others even cared about this story was because Andreescu is a Canadian. Without wanting to seem too cynical, if Andreescu had been an Australian or a Brazilian, we could not have cared less who got paid more.

None-the-less - it is a fair question. On the surface (or anywhere else for that matter) there cannot be a good reason why a woman would get paid less than a man for playing the same sport - except of course for those sports where there are insufficient viewers to attract enough fans to pay the salaries (and more importantly to make the owners rich). Tennis appears to be one of those sports where women's tournaments attract as many fans as do the men's tournaments, it is therefore obvious that both the men and the women champions should be paid the same amounts for winning. However, I find it noteworthy that we can get all concerned about the inequality of income amongst professional athletes while ignoring the extraordinary difference between the average Canadian's income and the earning of some athletes.

According to https://playerswiki.com/bianca-andreescu, this 19-year-old has made $2,417,873 this year in prize money. I would imagine that the amount she has made in sponsorships, especially since winning the Roger's Cup is equally as impressive. I accept that she may have significant costs as she jets across the world playing tournaments. I am sure that she has coaches and perhaps a number of other people who work with her, help her stay organized etc. to pay. It is also true that she will not always be a champion and she needs to make enough money to support her in the style she is used to when her earnings drop. I fully support her advocating for herself and other women to get paid equal pay for equal work but I am not prepared to invest any energy in that exercise. Quite frankly, I do not think that anyone else should either.

Watching sports is an activity that is reserved for those who have a significant level of disposable income. Many (perhaps most) Canadians cannot afford to buy tickets to any professional sporting event with a reasonable view of the field/court. While we may call a team our team, and we may cheer them on from the bar or from our living rooms, we have almost nothing in common with the owners of those teams or any of the players, some of who are multi-millionaires.

Pay equity is a fundamental human rights issue. It needs to be addressed at all levels of Canadian society - but can we start with those who are at the bottom of any pay scale - not somewhere near the top?