WNBA: Wage Gap Problem

Currently, a hot issue is the wage gap in the WNBA. These women have a right to be upset due to how low their wages are--compared to their male counterparts. However, their grievance shouldn't be with their male colleagues. Furthermore, they shouldn't look for the men to stand in solidarity with them. How often do we see women stand in solidarity with men--in regards to men's issues?
Furthermore, the men of the NBA aren’t the ones that write their checks. That's the main reason why their grievance shouldn't be with the NBA players. Their issue should be with the WNBA owners that are underpaying them. However, taking to social media to voice their grievances isn't going to solve their wage gap concerns. This country was founded on slavery.
Furthermore, throughout this country's existence, it has been plagued with having to combat labor unions. So, it's fair to say that this country doesn't believe in honest pay for an honest day's work. Unless there is economic pressure applied to the business owners, economic equality won't be rendered.
Now, let's look at the NBA. These women act as though the NBA players are paid more just because they're men. There are various factors as to why they're paid so much more. An obvious factor is viewership; the NBA yields far more viewership than the WNBA. However, these MGTOWs will hang their hat on that. Also, they'll point out the drastic difference in athletic ability. However, this is narrow-minded thinking. It's true that most WNBA players can't dunk. They're not as quick or fast as their male counterparts. Also, they're not as athletic. However, this is not why they're severely underpaid. These are just foolish statements to contend an argument. The second reason why they're severely underpaid is the lack of games in their regular season. There are 34 games in a WNBA season. There are 82 games in an NBA season. The NBA season consists of 241% more games. So, of course--for this reason alone--they're going to be paid more.
Next, we have to look at longevity. The NBA was started in 1946. The WNBA was launched in 1997. The NBA started 51 years before the WNBA. So, the NBA has more cash reserves to pay its athletes. The NBA has more liquid assets. It also has a much larger fan-base. Also, it has more reach.
However, this brings about the core of my argument for why the NBA players are paid far more than the WNBA players. Over the course of the NBA's 72 years in existence, it has had several lockouts. These lockouts are the result of players requiring certain benefits that weren't currently afforded to them. The main one is the pay. NBA players have sat out multiple times throughout the NBA's existence to increase their salaries. The last major lockout of record occurred in 1999. This was the year after Jordan retired. The NBA season that year was 50 games. Also, there was no All-Star game that year. All of this was due to labor disputes and protests by NBA players. However, don't believe that this was the last lockout of recent history to occur. There have been others since then. It's just that none were of this magnitude.
Now, speaking of Labor disputes and lockouts, let's go to the former president of the National Basketball Players Association, Oscar Robertson. Many know that he is one of the greatest players of all time. (In my opinion, he is the third greatest NBA player of all time--only after Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. His stats are so great that he averaged a triple-double for five straight years. This is an incredible feat in general. However, he did it for five seasons. He also was a second and third leading scorer in the league for seven seasons during his time.) However, the purpose of my post isn't to rattle off stats. I only went over that so people could understand his career a little better. However, even more, impressive is his off the floor work. He led the National Basketball Players Association. He led the NBA protest during the start of the 1970s which culminated in all of the players getting a dramatic increase in their pay. He's also the reason why the ABA remained active as long as it did. During his time as president of the National Basketball Players Association, the ABA was trying to merge with the NBA. However, he kept them open so that players could choose between leagues--thus forcing both leagues to pay players more money to acquire players.
Now, the NBA was founded in 1946. It wasn't until 1970 that most players enjoyed being equitably paid. Furthermore, it took a radical president and intense codification to bring about that change. So, going back to the WNBA--if they want to increase their pay--then they're going to have to be willing to sit out a season or multiple seasons until the WNBA owners agree to increase their salaries. This shouldn't be too difficult--since the bulk of WNBA players' incomes are made overseas anyway.

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