Equal Pay For Equal Effort

With all the talk of fair pay and equitable payments, especially for the bankers who just won't stop taking large amounts from the company profits, or adding to the company losses, in order to give themselves large annual bonuses, my attention was taken by another group of chancers. Women's tennis players .....

They campaigned for "Equal Pay" with male players in the 1980's and 1990's, and eventually achieved this, although outside of the 'four majors' of Wimbledon, US, French and the Australian opens, the earnings on the women's and men's tours don't actually match, because women's tennis doesn't generate the same interest from sponsors or the crowds.

But in the majors, they get equal money for the semifinalists and finalists, and this week saw the semifinals in the Australian Open .... In the men's draw these semifinals were between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Andy Murray of Great Britain in one semifinal, and Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal ESP in the other. In the women's draw they were between Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in one semifinal, and Maria Sharapova of Russia and  Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in the other.

Half the work but the same prize money - Worth every Penny?

Now bearing in mind that the women claim to be worth 'equal pay, despite evidence that commercially they generate far less money than the men when they have their own tournaments, and therefore are demonstrably living of the back of men's tennis in the majors, how much tennis do this weeks semifinal winners play in order to get to the final? Equal amounts? No.

Kim Clijsters (11)  was beaten by Victoria Azarenka (3) by 2 sets to 1 in a match totalling 132 minutes, and Maria Sharapova (4)  beat Petra Kvitova  (2) by 2 sets to 1 in a match also totalling 132 minutes. 264 minutes of tennis in all .... whereas in the mens two semifinals:

Novak Djokovic (1) beat Andy Murray (4) by 3 sets to 2 in a match totalling 290 minutes, and Roger Federer (3) was beaten by Rafael Nadal (2) by 3 sets to 1 in a match totalling 222 minutes. 512 minutes of tennis in all, with one match lasting longer than both of the womens semifinals combined, and the other nearly matching them (had it gone to five sets, it would also have surpassed the combined womens match time).

The womens final was won by Victoria Azarenka in two sets, in just 82 minutes play time.

The mens final was won by Novak Djokovic 3 -2 in long sets, taking 352 minutes of play time ..... thats over four times the length of play in the womens final .... all for the same money.

So how can this be classed as equality or equitable? Cos some 'wimmin' say it is.

And the moral of this story? Always follow the money when someone says they want 'Equality'.