The list of the highest paid athletes in the world, which the magazine forbes publishes annually, paints an eloquent portrait of the level of disparity between the salaries of men and women in the world of professional sport. In summary, women receive on average 50% of the values ​​that go into the account of men. A forbes accounts for salaries and additional revenue, such as advertising and events.

In total, the 25 highest-paid athletes in the world earned $285 million in salaries in 2022. Over the same period, the 25 highest-paid athletes earned $992 million. It is only with the help of additional income from advertising and events that women manage to reach 50% of what men earn. Another curiosity of the list, the two athletes who received the most in 2022, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, have already ended their respective careers, although, in the case of Naomi, the retirement is not yet official. .

Although it is a good portrait of the wage inequality still imposed on women, the list of forbes gives little account of women’s struggle for equal treatment in sport. A shallow investigation shows the extent of this historic wound. Just think of the number of women who occupy leadership positions in the International Olympic Committee, in confederations, clubs, national federations and even in the companies that finance sport with billionaire sponsorships.

Even in the stands, the inequality of access and prestige is flagrant. Men find it beautiful and modern when football federations, like Turkey, open stadiums, empty because of a punishment for them, only for women and children. Charity with the punishment of others is nothing modern, it only increases discrimination.

Three recent reports published by columnists from the UOL show with symbolic details that sport still owes a lot to women and that the effort to overcome inequalities is still timid and unsuccessful.

Thursday (March 2, 2023), the “Olhar Olímpico” section, written by the journalist Demetrio Vechioli, informs that the medical director of the COB, Brazilian Olympic Committee, Ana Carolina Corte, loved by all, athletes and employees, has resigned. One of the reasons, according to Vechioli, was the promotion of Christian Trajano, director of doping education and prevention to executive director of sports science. Trajan is not the most popular professional on the committee. He has already had to defend himself from a formal accusation of moral harassment and, unlike Corte, although he is a doctor, he is not a specialist in sports medicine. Ana Carolina quit when she discovered that Christian, with a less technical background, would be her boss.

Monday (6.mar), Vechioli published a second text on the subject, recalling that women “they have nothing to celebrate in Brazilian Olympic sport”. It shows that only two confederations, rowing and gymnastics, are commanded by women and that the only woman in the COB command team is the financial director, Isabelle Durand. All command positions directly related to sport are occupied by men.

In another text published by UOL Monday (March 6), extreme sports specialist Paulo Anshowinhas account the story of a movement of skater athletes known through the project “second of mines”. This is a group of 40 skaters who, among other things, organize exclusive training for girls. On Feb. 27, a boy stormed into a public track during a women-only session and even took the nerve to harass fellow athletes. That is to say, even forced to create a movement and organize exclusive sessions to be able to skate in peace, women see their space invaded by male harassers.

The stories of cross-disciplinary discrimination against women in sport tend to endless. Even in stronger situations, such as that of the Canadian women’s soccer team, Olympic champions at Tokyo-2020, the discrimination does not let up. The Canadian Football Federation broke its promise to match the girls’ pay with the men’s team, which never won anything, forcing the athletes into another round of protests. They now only wear the team uniform during matches. They perform during trips and meetings with the media and the public, always in civilian clothes.

The formal excuse for much of the economic discrimination that men impose on women in sport is that male athletes attract more audiences and more sponsors. This lame excuse hides the fact that women receive fewer incentives during their respective careers and therefore have a harder time putting on a show with the same technical quality as men. Pure machismo disguised as rules.

The struggle of women continues and in many ways it is clear that if the public, who pays all the bills for sport, does not make it clear that sport will only fulfill its mission of inspiring young people and promoting healthy living when women will have the respect and characteristics that are now exclusive to the men’s wardrobe. Until then, we are all being lied to and the women, once again, are massacred.