The Women’s National Basketball Association, better known as the WNBA, has officially wrapped up their season when the Chicago Sky’s defeat the Phoenix Mercury’s in game 4 of the WNBA finals securing their first national championship. Though this moment is very exciting for the city of Chiago to have their first WNBA title, the players still are looking into the future of their own team, and the future of the WNBA.
Sophie Cummigham of the Phoenix Mercury said in a Zoom call with 40 high school girls from Phoenix Arizona and gave them some words of wisdom. She explained how it is their responsibility to help create change in the WNBA, and how it might take ten years to finally start to see change, but that shouldn’t discourage them.
Professional women basketball players’ salary averages around $75,000 per year, whereas their men counterpartners average $7.7 million dollars per year. Though they have the same amount of playing experience and hold the same title of “professional basketball player”, the women make 1% of what the men do.
Even at the non-professional level, like in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, which is women’s college sports, women athletes are still being degraded. In the 2021 NCAA basketball finals, a photo of the mens weight room and women’s weight room were posted all over social media. The mens weight room had far more equipment and a larger gym than the women’s weight room which consisted of a single weight bar and a handful of yoga mats.
With the excitement surrounding the WNBA finals, professional female athletes are using their platform to advocate for equality both on and off the court. Many other WNBA players have also been talking to the future generation of female athletes and inspiring them to continue to be the change they hope to see one day in the near future.