The level of certain physical attributes
When it comes to pay, we are told that women athletes are worth less because men are better. When it comes to men athletes who claim to be women so that they can compete against women, we are told that men are not better at all and who ever said they were?
On International Women’s Day in 2019, all 28 players on the top-ranked U.S. women’s national soccer team filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) alleging gender-based discrimination and arguing for equal pay. Now, eye-opening court documents filed Tuesday in Los Angeles reveal the grounds on which the USSF is arguing the lawsuit should be thrown out.
One of its arguments is headlined: “WNT [Women’s National Team] and MNT [Men’s National Team] Players Do Not Perform Equal Work Requiring Equal Skill, Effort, and Responsibility Under Similar Working Conditions.” The document goes on to say, “The overall soccer-playing ability required to compete at the senior men’s national team level is materially influenced by the level of certain physical attributes, such as speed and strength, required for the job.”
Unless it’s Rachel McKinnon or Miller and Yearwood or Laurel Hubbard; then the attributes vanish from view.
U.S. Soccer argues that paying its female players less than its male players is justified because of inherent physiological differences between men and women in things like skeletal structure, muscle composition, heart and lung capacity, and even “the absolute ability to process carbohydrates.”
While sports writers claim that there’s no difference at all and it’s tranphobic and sexist to say there is.
The U.S. women are ranked No. 1 in the world and have won four World Cup titles. The U.S. men’s team is ranked 22nd and has never won a World Cup. The men failed even to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. In the last World Cup, the women’s final attracted more American TV viewers than the men’s.
But still, the women are paid significantly less. They have to come up with some justification for that.
There is a close analogy here with weight-bracketed sports, like boxing and wrestling.
What do the pay scales look like in those sports?
Do they go up with weight?
I find that an interesting argument, because the usual argument is that women’s sports aren’t as popular, so they don’t earn as much for the owners, therefore women are paid less. That argument at least makes more sense, in being paid what your economic worth is. But they can’t really use that argument, can they, with the women’s soccer team winning so much and attracting so many viewers? So they reach for inherent physiological characteristics, because nothing is going to change that.
But they are performing equal work – they are each performing at or near the peak of athleticism for their respective sexes, and they are playing against opponents of the same sex who are also trying to maximise their athleticism. Same goes for skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.
If you look at sports as a form of entertainment, I’d say the women’s team is probably selling a better product. What happens when you factor in ticket sales, TV audience, etc.?
Off topic, but you posted something a while back about airplanes, claiming they do not recycle air, but a little research shows that is not the case.
?
No I didn’t – I said they do recycle air, stale air, air that’s already been breathed by other people. They don’t draw in new air from outside, because it costs more.
However, a little Googling does indicate that I’m wrong about that.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/how-stale-is-the-recycled-air-in-a-plane/
I read it somewhere this one time…[shame face]
In boxing, there is a tendency for the higher weight divisions to attract bigger audiences and prizes. Which is actually unreasonable. In the ‘no ceiling’ heavyweight division, mere size can confer an advantage. Primo Carnera, who was merely competent at best, could become champion…until he met Max Baer, or Joe Louis. Jess Willard was hideously dismantled by the much smaller Jack Dempsey. Still, the public assumption that the biggest champion is best has made the heavyweights compensation MUCH higher than other classes.
JtD, yes, but actual audience figures for the woman’s soccer team are higher than for the men’s, so the argument about strength and other physical characteristics is disingenuous in this case. They are simply reaching for whatever argument is handy at the time, since they usually do argue about more viewers, etc.
Off topic, but re the sub thread about plane ventilation, I recall there was a documentary a while back about the development of one of the more modern passenger aircraft. I can’t remember whether it was the 777 or the 787. There was a detailed discussion of the ventilation system, including distribution and filtration. The system final test is to use cigarette smoke, which is highly odoured and has super fine particles. It’s not allowed to be detectable more than two rows away. Interesting fact, health authorities have been prioritising tracking passengers within two rows of know carriers on aircraft.