Welcome to 'Equal pay for equal play: football's fight for financial equality'
Welcome to the home of 'Equal pay for equal play: football's fight for financial equality'. This is a seven-minute major multimedia radio project focusing on pay equality in football. The aim of the documentary is to answer the following question: how can female footballers ever be paid the same as male ones? As well as this, the project will look to answer: what needs to happen to increase pay for women?
As you can see from the chart above, 83% of sports now pay equal prize money to its sports stars with one major exception: football. Statistics from a BBC study show football has retained the biggest disparity between prize money for men and women, especially between the Premier League and the Women's Super League. This documentary will look to answer how football's gender pay gap can be closed. Throughout the documentary's production, this blog will give you a behind the scenes look at the how it's progressing, as well as offer an insight into other aspects of pay equality in football.
The original target station for the documentary is Talksport; this was picked over BBC Radio 5Live because the BBC has strict editorial guidelines. They require balance and due impartiality for all stories where as Talksport don’t. If I had picked 5Live instead it would mean me having to find balance but this isn’t what the documentary is about. I want to explore the issue of equal pay without having to offer balance or a right to reply, and if needs be I can play devil’s advocate myself.
In order to answer the proposed questions, the documentary needs gather a range of views from multiple experts and sporting pioneers. Take a look at the potential cast list below!
- Jo Tongue:
Jo is one of women's football's leading agents, boasting clients such as England international Eniola Aluko. Jo can provide an insight into a how pay in football works, discussing the various factors that affect pay and what needs to be done to improve pay.
- Rob Wilson:
Rob Wilson is one of the countries foremost football financial experts, often contributing to the likes of BBC Radio 5Live. Rob can answer important questions such as whether the FA’s proposed restructuring of the Women's Super League can have any influence on pay as well as what exactly needs to happen to increase pay.
-Lewes FC:
MAIN CASE STUDY: Lewes FC are the first club in the world to offer equal to both their men's and women's football teams. The documentary can speak to John Donoghue (Women’s manager), a women's player and Charlie Dobres (director).
-Billie Jean King or WTA representative:
Can football follow other sports leads and offer equal pay? And exactly how was equal pay achieved in tennis? These are the questions that can answered by speaking to equality pioneers such as Billie Jean King.
-Joachim Walltin:
Joachim Walltin is an ex-international Norwegian footballer and head of the players’ union in Norway. Norway have recently introduced equal pay to its international women footballers, so by talking to Joachim the documentary can find out how it’s been achieved at international level.
