Tim Worstall

You What?

Mark Lawson celebrates the fact that Wimbledon will now offer equal prize money across the gender gap.

Serious consideration should also be given to male-female matches, for
exhibition or competition. The fiasco of King-Riggs made such contests
seem a joke, but Graf-Sampras would have been an interesting encounter,
as would Federer-Williams. Then tennis could follow the logic of the
Wimbledon cash change and join athletics as a sport in which genuine
equality has been achieved.

Err, sorry Mark? Which athletic events have men competing against women? The 100m ? The marathon? The hammer?

I’m willing to be corrected of course but the only one I can think of is equestrianism (show jumping and three day eventing etc). Everything else has an entirely rigid sex divide doesn’t it?

In

15 responses

  1. Peter Briffa Avatar
    Peter Briffa

    Korfball.
    There was a chick called Alison Fisher who used to get knocked out of the first round at snooker, sometimes.
    And one or two managed to go over all the fences at Aintree. With the help of their horses.
    I reckon some might make passabble holders on extra points in the NFL. And I once dated a girl who’d have made a good nose tackle.

    Reply
  2. Andy Cooke Avatar
    Andy Cooke

    The gender divide is less pronounced in fencing. It’s only recently that there have been routinely separate competitions for men and women at sabre.
    It’s actually quite disconcerting watching a girl charge at you with a sword, you know …

    Reply
  3. andrew Avatar
    andrew

    Well, we already have mixed doubles tennis, which goes some way towards addressing the issue.
    And we tried male vs. female tennis and, erm, the best female players in the world got hammered by some German no-name.

    Reply
  4. Kit Avatar
    Kit

    Read the “Women Are Chokers” article on Slate about differences between male and female tenis players:
    http://www.slate.com/id/2159145/

    Reply
  5. DocBud Avatar
    DocBud

    The women’s earnings will be considerably higher per set.

    Reply
  6. Andrew Paterson Avatar
    Andrew Paterson

    Federer is nigh on unbeatable amongst men, I’d wager that he’d beat either of the Williams sisters by dropping less than 10 points.

    Reply
  7. HJHJ Avatar
    HJHJ

    It’s a difficult issue. However, were there a separate women’s and men’s Wimbledon (i.e. held entirely separately) then presumably the market would decide how much they would get paid. It is only because they are combined in the same tournament that we are having this debate.
    I very much suspect that the men’s tournament would attract more viewers and money. This is the case in many sports, e.g. football. Are there not things such as TV viewing figures (and related advertising revenue) that would allow the relative value to be assessed?
    My sport is rowing. There are very few events where you have to pay to watch, but if there were, and if women’s and men’s events were completely separate, I would pay just as much to watch the women’s event – because although they’re slower, it is just as good and exciting to watch. That should be the test.

    Reply
  8. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Pure guess: shouldn’t shooting be unisexual?

    Reply
  9. Martin Adamson Avatar
    Martin Adamson

    Women have played in men’s professional golf events. They never get anywhere near the top half of the leader board.

    Reply
  10. Martin Adamson Avatar
    Martin Adamson

    Sorry, I should have mentioned that for tennis “join athletics as a sport in which genuine equality has been achieved” women will have to play over five sets.

    Reply
  11. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Apparently the viewing figures on TV don’t show much difference these days. On the other hand men’s games last longer, so presumably people should be willing to pay more.
    On the other hand, the top players get more viewers in than the no-names, and yet no-ones (I think) suggesting they should get paid more per round.

    Reply
  12. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    I wonder if Lawson realises that Maria Sharapova took home around $20-$25m in 2006, which is on a par with what Federer earned.
    By tennis skills and ranking alone, Federer should be earning far more, but sadly more people want to watch adverts with Sharapova in than Federer.

    Reply
  13. Stella Baskomb Avatar
    Stella Baskomb

    “the only one I can think of is equestrianism”
    You mean mares and stallions actually compete against one another? What next??

    Reply
  14. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    Drats. Couldn’t women compete at drats?

    Reply
  15. MATTHEW ROBERT ILLSLEY Avatar
    MATTHEW ROBERT ILLSLEY

    As regards darts, I saw a top tip in Viz many moons ago which suggested that female players start off on a score of 2 and aim for the double 1 from the off as this would simply save time and relieve them of the tedium of missing all the higher doubles!

    Reply

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