Spain's women football players plan strike
For months Spain's professional women football players have been trying to negotiate better terms of employment with their clubs. They now plan to strike on November 16 and 17 in a bid to push through their demand of an annual salary of at least 16,000 euros a year for working full-time. Professional male players are already paid this much, and those in the premier league earn up to 150,000 euros a year. The women are right to protest, commentators write.
Undignified conditions of employment
El Periódico de Catalunya is incensed at the conditions under which Spain's women's football professionals have to work:
“This inequality hurts. The minimum wage for men in the first league is 155,000 euros a year. And there are no part-time contracts. ... How can a professional football player work part-time? ... Can you live in dignity on 8,000 euros a year? Clearly not. Not to mention maternity leave, holidays and other things. Such conditions would be unthinkable in any other industry. ... From a business point of view it's true that women's football is not comparable to men's football. But women's football is on the rise. The argument that it it has a low level of social recognition will soon cease to be valid. Those who do justice to the players make their game better and society fairer.”
Women's labour rights must be protected
eldiario.es points to general salary differences between women and men:
“The inequality in football is not an exception but simply highlights once more that female-dominated professions are less respected and less well paid. ... When women invade male-dominated occupations, these jobs usually lose prestige and salaries fall. ... In sport this inequality is enormous, and the prize money also varies greatly depending on gender. Many will argue that the quality of women's football is not as good and that it's less spectacular. ... But such arguments only underpin the theory of devaluation: in other words the idea that the work is worth less just because it is done by women. We must recognise and protect women's labour rights in all areas where women work.”