Dealing With Disparity

Golf is a sport steeped in tradition, and change is often slow in coming. This isn’t always a bad thing- the tradition keeps the sport a hallowed one. However, there are some changes golf needs to make to keep it viable. Women’s golf has started getting more attention, and that’s great for the golf industry as a whole- it’s attracting a whole new market. Unfortunately, despite the same rigorous training and ridiculous skill, women in sports win 30% less then their male equivalents- and women in golf earn even less.

Michelle Wie made headlines with her impressive LPGA win, and she won a considerable sum- £452,000, but that amount is paltry compared to a US Open winner’s £1,000,000. That’s over 50% more for doing essentially the same job. Female footballers have it even worse, with prizes coming in at fractions of their male equivalents.

If golf wants to continue attracting new blood the sport, one simple tactic is to be the first sport to sport equality as a virtue rather than side-stepping the issue, especially as studies show that women’s sports can and do attract the same size crowds when marketed in similar ways. To read more about this issue and how is spans across all sports, go here: Men get more prize money than women in 30% of sports.

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