Equal Pay in Women's Football

FYU 006-0 English for
Specific Purposes

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Women’s Football must be treated equally with Men’s Football................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
There must be no discrimination between males and females in the field of sports. Women
are playing in the field by putting their teams at the centre and front. When the female athletes
are paid equally as that of males, there are more chances to attract the women in the sports field
(Dwyer, Lupinek and Achen, 2018). This is must to encourage the women in the country UK to
actively take part in sports of any kind. There are various arguments which support the statement
of Equal play, equal pay in football. This report will shed light on the various arguments which
supports the fact that the females must be treated equally as that of men in football.
Women’s Football must be treated equally with Men’s Football
Women’s Football is considered as the fastest growing sports in the world as more than 30
million women are playing football worldwide. The popularity of sports is also increasing among
the spectators. Though the popularity is growing rapidly, the payment received by the female
players is a small fraction of the payment got by male footballers. In football, there is a larger
pay gap seen as compared to other sports. This was observed that in 2017, the first team pay in
men rose to £2.64 million while in women it was only £26,752 (Clarkson, Cox and Thelwell,
2019). There were many campaigns organised by the women which was named as “Equal Play,
Equal Pay”. This means that the women must be paid equal to the payment of men.
The first argument which can be considered is the labour rights argument. This can be
highlighted as the women in the football team invest equal amount of time and energy in the
game as compared to the men. This is how; they must get the same salary. This means that equal
work must be resulted in equal pay. When the women in the sports team investing same amount
of energy and time and also doing equal work if not awarded with the same money is a clear case
of injustice. This can also be linked to the UK Equality Act 2010 and its chapter 3 (Clarkson and
et.al., 2021). This can be seen that the oppressed group is being disadvantaged as compared to
the privileged group. This is why, it is considered as the wrongful discrimination.
The second argument can be the argument of expressive power. This argument is not only
financially good but also morally good. This is because; it is also easy for the national
associations for paying male and female players equally. If the males and females in football are
paid equally, then this also equalise the professional as well as sporting value of the players. This
also gives a reason to the national associations for committing the equal pay for males and
3