The players of the Metropolitan Riveters, a women’s ice hockey team Source: Riveters.premierhockeyfederation.com

As the 2023 Women’s Soccer World Cup has recently ended, and seasons of other popular sports will commence, it is time to address a topic that rarely any workers in the sports industry discuss: the pay inequality between male and female athletes. 

Connor McDavid, among the highest-paid male National Hockey League (NHL) players, generates roughly $15.3 million per season. Mikyla Grant-Mentis, a Canadian hockey player, made 80,000 USD in 2022. This was the most significant one-year contract in female hockey history. The gender pay gap is used to dismiss talented female sports players. On average, women earn 92 cents for every dollar a man makes in hockey.

During the 2023 season, the maximum Premium Hockey Federation (PHF), the American and Canadian women’s league,  salary is 750,000 dollars for the Metropolitan Riveters, and the minimum salary $13,500 per player. To put this into perspective, in the United States, the minimum yearly income needed for a family of three to stay above the poverty line is $21,960, making this income for female hockey players unsuitable for a comfortable life within the US. 

Mallory Rushton, a Canadian hockey player from Nova Scotia and former Metropolitan Riveter, who currently plays for Linkoping Hockey Club in Sweden said, “We [female athletes] are consistently reminded that female athletes are paid less than male athletes because we [female leagues] generate less revenue.” 

Rushton’s said “It is extremely important that female athletes get the investments needed to market and get us as athletes in the public eye as much as possible. It is important to see the great progress in women’s sports from the WNBA (Women’s Basketball Association) and the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League), but there is still a long way to go.”

The indifference between the leagues is vast, but small contributions over time could help bring talented women athletes more spotlight and show their talent to the U.S., Canada, and the whole world. Rushton believes the unfairness can be changed without facing huge financial contributions; “more ice times for us as players, insurance plans and housing” could help to extreme levels. 

The final step is to interest more people in female sports, such as the PHL. In Rushton’s words, “dating back to when the NWHL (former name of PHL) was invited to the NHL’s 2019 All-Stars event, it created a large platform for these women to show their skills. I think about when Kendall Coyne participated in the fastest skater event at a large-scale event, showing thousands of people what women are capable of. These events help market us and show that we can do it too.”