Gender Wage Gap in Professional Sports Discrimination in professional sports began as early as the 1890s with prejudice and color bans against African Americans in national baseball leagues then continued through other popular sports like golf and basketball. Since Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play professional baseball in 1947, many other courageous athletes have taken a stand against discrimination in their own leagues. Tiger Woods experienced racial discrimination in the early stages of his career, but did not let the mocking and insensitive remarks prevent him from becoming one of the greatest golfers of all time (Cashmore, 621). The coverage surrounding discrimination in sports mainly focuses on racial issues but fails to highlight another important issue that has loomed over the sports world as long as racism has; that issue is the wage gap between male and female professional …show more content…
It is unfathomable in modern society for an African American woman to be forced to sit on the back of a public bus. It is unfathomable in modern society for a Hispanic man to be denied service in an establishment. It is unfathomable in modern society for a state to deny a homosexual couple a marriage license. So why is such a vast discrepancy between the wages of male and female athletes still acceptable? The type of rigorous, unstoppable advocacy used to gain support for the civil rights movement, the legalization of gay marriage, and the enactment of stricter gun legislation needs be applied to this issue along with increased media coverage of the gender wage gap in professional sports, improvements to the Equal Pay Act, more legislation that benefits female athletes like Title IX, and ultimately the unwavering belief that equality is a human right guaranteed to both women and men and the standard by which both athletes need to be