Cape Town - Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa said his department was leading discussions in closing the pay gap between male and female professional athletes.
“The pay gap between male and female professional athletes is a challenge that requires all role players within the sport and recreation fraternity to actively address,” Kodwa said.
He made the statement when he was responding to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Naledi Chirwa. Chirwa wrote to Kodwa enquiring about the steps taken to ensure that equal pay became a reality for men’s and women’s national teams.
She noted that women’s compensation in the sports industry continued to be one that undermined the tenets of constitutional democracy, and wanted to know about the measures taken to build support and offer resources in the various sports codes.
In his written reply, Kodwa said his department was leading discussions in the development of the women in sport policy.
“This policy is designed to ensure equality within the sport and recreation sector across the various spheres of the industry such as administration, coaching, salaries of professional athletes and others.
“The Cabinet has approved that the above-mentioned policy be gazetted for public comment,” he said.
Kodwa also said that the professionalisation of women’s sport was key in addressing pay parity between females and males.
“To this end the department, with limited financial resources, has been primarily providing support to Cricket SA, the South African Football Association, Netball SA, and South African Rugby for the implementation of women’s programmes with the aim of establishing professional leagues.
“The success of these kinds of initiatives is dependent on the corporate investment in women's sport.”
The minister said the private sector was mainly driven by commercial interest, hence it was imperative that commercially attractive and bankable products were developed.
“The best cases in point are that women’s national team players and technical personnel in cricket, rugby and netball are now contracted on a full-time basis and paid salaries.
“This is the first step towards the professionalisation of women’s sport, which lays a foundation for the realisation of pay parity in our sport,” Kodwa added.
Cape Times