Levelling the playing field: Team sports are furthering the gender pay gap

Team sports have well-documented benefits to well-being, improving not just physical health and fitness but also mental health, self-esteem, and a vital sense of community and inclusion. While increasing numbers of women battle through the myriad obstacles to participation, women's amateur sport is actually increasing the gender pay gap, a cost that for many women and girls is just too high to pay.

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While men tend to pursue sports well into adulthood, evidence suggests women seem to give up sports at a younger age. This is often not due to lack of interest or motivation, but rather the myriad hurdles women and girls face to participation in sports. 

According to the Australian Sports Commission’s 2021 report, only 22% of women over 15  are participating in sports compared to 34% of men. 

Currently,  sporting clubs often prioritise men's and children's sports, while women are given the least priority when scheduling and funding. Girls cease participation in organised sports by the age of 14 at twice the rate of boys due to inadequate programs, social expectations and an increased rate of sexual abuse within sporting clubs. 

While many of us may know a woman who participates in team sports, it pales in comparison to the number of men who are still pursuing their passion for sports.

So why does this happen, and what does it have to do with the gender pay gap? 

Women's senior social sports are predominantly scheduled on Sundays, as men’s teams are given priority access to sporting venues at more desirable and convenient times, particularly Saturdays. This impacts female athletes' ability to earn weekend penalty rates and concurrently participate in team sports. 

It also reduces the likelihood of repeat spectators, who have already attended sporting events on Saturdays, lowering viewership and bar sales on the days that women's sport is played. This, in turn, reinforces the perception that women’s sport is less profitable for clubs.

In the 2024 football season, 30 out of 41 women’s VFL games for AFL Barwon were scheduled on Sundays, including the Grand Final. 

Cricket is no different. Across Victoria, women’s cricket league matches and preseason training are routinely held on Sundays due to the prioritisation of men’s teams for venue access.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) recognises this problem and identifies it as complex, with a multitude of factors impacting the gender pay gap, including the differing commitments of men and women. But one fact is clear: access to weekend penalty rates matters. 

Penalty rates on a Sunday for a casual staff member are 175% of the usual rate, and women make up 57% of the casual workforce, meaning women are disproportionately reliant on penalty rates to supplement their income. When sport is pushed to Sundays, many female athletes are forced to choose between earning vital income and playing the game they love.

As of November 2024, men earn on average 21.8% more than women. This equals a difference of $28,425 in income between men and women per year on average. It directly limits women’s ability to afford club fees, equipment, and even the travel costs required to participate in sport.

Beyond the dollars, is the social disconnect. Many of us who have attempted to play sports as young adults have had to choose between going to club social events, birthdays, or just going out on a Saturday night to be able to get up early to play. 

Players often turn up hung-over or not at all, an issue men’s teams don’t face because after playing sport on a Saturday, they are free to go out and party with the boys.

For the sake of all Australian women and girls, great consideration must be given to the countless ways in which we can begin to address this dismissive and exclusionary attitude our society has towards the participation of women in both individual and team sporting endeavours.

Proper consideration can only improve physical and mental health outcomes for Australian women and girls, and highlighting the importance of sport to the wellbeing of all Australians can only improve participation and spectatorship in amateur sport on the whole. And that outcome benefits all of us.

An establishment of female-specific sports clubs, with prioritised access to sporting facilities, could eliminate secondary allocation, as happens in co-administered sporting clubs. Most sporting clubs are at capacity for scheduling Saturdays and don’t have the space to accommodate women’s games. However, there is one place in every Australian suburb that is overlooked, and that is schools.

Establishing a Saturday competition that utilises sporting facilities within high schools is mutually beneficial. If funds are distributed to the schools to maintain these sporting facilities, the school benefits, and young women and girls' participation in sports could improve as a follow-on effect. 

If we are serious about closing the gender pay gap and supporting women in sport, then change starts with scheduling. As we see our professional women's teams gain investment, it’s time for sporting bodies, clubs, and governments to stop sidelining women’s competitions and start investing in women's sport where it begins, our local clubs.