Written response

Monday – 28/2/2022 Dear Government, My teammates and I from the Fremantle AFLW football club, are writing to you to say that we feel it is time we get what we deserve. My question to you is why don’t you think female athletes deserve the same pay as male athletes? Equal pay in men and women is and has been a problem around the world for many years. What is stopping you from making a change? Many players in the AFLW have the same abilities and talents, so not receiving equal pay is something I can’t understand. Gender equality also plays a big part in these decisions. We are all humans so judging a pay salary by someone’s gender over ability is wrong. We also believe that in doing this, we are teaching equality to future generations. This is ultimately the key to ending it for good. So, if we perform the same way men do and sometimes better, we think it’s time for change if we want to live in a just society. Female athletes deserve the same pay as male athletes for multiple reasons, one being the fact that many AFLW players are equal or better in their abilities and talents compared to AFL players. If a man and a woman in a workplace can both do their job in a correct and efficient way, which is no different to a female athlete competing in a sport the same as a man would, then what makes it okay to make a difference in pay? It is wrong to justify a person’s salary based off their gender. Which leads me into my second reason why female athletes deserve the same pay as male athletes. Gender inequality is a problem that is unnecessary and needs to stop as a whole, not just in the way men and women are being paid. All men and a women both have lives that are reliant on money, so what is the reason to restrict women of what they equally deserve? Not only do female athletes have to take care of their kids, but they have the struggle of living busy lives to raise a family and have time for sport. I have a kid and a side job as I’m not receiving enough pay to take care of my family. Juggling all of my priorities becomes a big stress. Equal pay would not only achieve gender equality, but it would benefit women in ways that are unexplainable. Instead of continuing the cycle and letting our children grow up in these ways, we should let them experience a future of peace and fairness. Teaching equality to children from a young age by eliminating the gender pay gap is something that would make future generations a very equal and fair place to live in. Don’t you want to see the world move forward from this problem? The earlier we get rid of the gender pay gap, the better it is for upcoming female athletes. I don’t know how such an easy solution could become so hard to achieve. I don’t want my young daughter to grow up and be stripped of her right to have equal pay in what she does. This is why, the earlier female athletes receive the same pay as male athletes, the better for society. Female athletes deserve the same pay as male athletes as they have the same abilities, they are all human, just as men are, and the future of female sport relies on how our kids grow up with equal pay or not.