Catherwood LibraryILR School

As surfing becomes an Olympic sport in 2020, the World Surf League announced it will raise prize money for its women athletes in 2019, to equal those of male surfers. The gender pay gap between surfers has been significant, with prize money at an Australian competition earlier this year resulting in $100,000 for male winners and $65,000 for female winners. The WSL had received negative publicity in June when a photo from a South Africa junior surf competition showed a male and female athlete holding up their prize checks, worth 8000 and 4000 rand respectively. In addition, the State Lands Commission in California required the WSL to offer equal pay in order to receive a permit to hold its annual big-wave competition at Mavericks. Last year, BBC Sport did a study which found that while 35 of 44 sports governing bodies awarded equal prize money, the disparity in those sports that did not was often striking, notably with female soccer players. Five members of the U.S. women’s soccer team filed a wage discrimination suit in 2016 against the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging that female players were paid a quarter of their male counterparts, even though the women's team had earned $20 million more in revenue.