Like many Melburnians, we love the Australian Open. It's one of our favourite times of the year, reminding us how lucky we are to live in one of the world’s greatest sporting cities.
Back in 2003, Bronwen was working in retail at Crown Casino when a famous tennis player gifted her two tickets to the men’s finals. We found ourselves just a few rows behind Steffi Graf as Andre Agassi clinched his last Australian Open title. It was a truly magical Melbournian moment.
What’s remarkable about tennis is its gender neutrality. Women’s tennis is just as thrilling and attracts just as large a crowd as the men’s. For years, the main draw of the Open was Ash Barty, one of our most treasured national icons, or the Williams sisters, whose dominance remains unrivalled.
But it’s not just the talent of female players that led tennis to be the first sport to guarantee equal prize money for major tournaments; it’s the relentless advocacy of these athletes. The US Open was the pioneer in 1973, followed by the Australian Open, and since then, all Grand Slams have adopted equal prize money.
Surprisingly, in the 50 years since then, little has changed in terms of equal pay in sports. Only a handful of sports, like squash and surfing, have equalised prize money. And pay beyond prize money? That's a long way from equal.
Some argue that male athletes should be paid more because their sports attract more fans, viewers, merchandise sales, and sponsorships. But this argument hinges more on opportunity than appetite.
Of course men’s sports attract more viewers when they dominate TV schedules. Of course they sell more merchandise when that's all that's available in sports stores.
Like many discussions around gender equality and the gender pay gap, equal pay in sports is fundamentally about equal opportunities. There is an enormous appetite for women’s sports—just look at the success of the Women’s World Cup in 2023. The Matildas sold more official jerseys before the World Cup even began than the Socceroos did before, during, and since the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar. Stadiums were sold out, and matches broke broadcast records. Yet, Nike didn’t print more jerseys, ticket prices stayed low, and broadcast rights were sold for a song.
If we don’t give women athletes the opportunity to earn revenue, how can they demonstrate their potential to generate financial returns equal to their male counterparts?
When the Bristol Bears rugby club signed American player Ilona Maher, ticket sales surged so dramatically that the club had to move to a larger stadium.
It’s time we stop viewing women’s sports as inferior and recognise them for what they are: elite sports equal to men’s, deserving of the same rewards.
Until then, we’ll be settling in for the second week of the Australian Open, anticipating the women’s finals just as much as the men’s.