The Facts
The Women's Tennis Association, WTA, on Tuesday, announced a 10-year pathway to sustainably close the gender pay gap, committing to delivering prize money equal to the standard of the men's tour at the two tiers right below the Grand Slams.
This comes after months of negotiations within the WTA Tour, which includes tournament organizers who, for decades, have paid female tennis players less than their male counterparts.
The Spin
Narrative A
The announced plan requires patience to address the unjustifiable treatment of female tennis players as the gender pay gap will remain an issue for years under this timeframe. Additionally, lower prize money is not the only discrimination women face in their road to stardom as tournament organizers often make them play in less desirable time slots and on smaller courts compared to men.
Narrative B
While tennis is leading the way to tackle the gender pay gap in sports, prize pots outside of the four two-week Grand Slams are not equal and this disparity is widening as the WTA consistently fails to increase its own revenue, collecting less than half of men's ATP in 2021. True equality can only be achieved when female tennis players become represented by the outperforming ATP.
