It absolutely is about skill. If women had it at the same levels as men, people would watch. I'd venture to say even more would watch for the curiosity factor.
They lack similar skill as the men. Simple as that.
More people watch women's volleyball and women's gymnastics than men despite the obvious skill difference. Skill is one reason why people tune in, but not the only reason.
Women deserve less pay because fewer people watch generating less revenue. If more people watched, they'd deserve more money regardless of the level of skill on the field.
The reason they get paid less is simple and obvious. Why people don't watch is much more complicated.
More people watching women's volleyball (beach volleyball in particular) and gymnastics than the men's equivalent probably has something to do with the uniforms.
Actual fan of both. It isn't just because the women are pretty. Women's beach has way more team work and partner dynamics come a lot into pay. Mens beach is power spike serve and then one homo looking dude jumps after it, same thing, every time. BORING. Women's is like a chess match and it's pretty impressive when a 110 lbs woman slams it almost as hard as the men. The gender divide also isn't as big as in women's tennis for example. I've seen videos of Kerri Walsh Jennings playing in charity coed duos, and you can see the men think "I need to hold back less or else I'm losing this one" Beach volley is one where women regularly train with men..so there's that.
I also prefer womens gymnastics for floor. Sure
Unevens, rings or pommel, the men are in another league, but floor is where women shine. Women's bodies make gymnastics and figure skating way more aesthetic and graceful. in skating, for example, Judging triples or quads on men's is pretty hard because the speed hides so many mistakes where as slightly slower movements in women means you can see the really botched ones but also marvel at the 100% perfect ones. IOC judges for mens have to be incredibly analytical because mistakes are absolutely made when judging. It's one reason a lot of top men willingly choose to go ice dancing, because there's less chance a slow judge will end up costing you a medal by a decimal.
I totally agree that other women's sports suck because there is NO advantage to the gender difference. Soccer is slower and therefore more boring. Basketball could be really interesting if it was super heavy on fundamentals and strategy, but it is just a slow and sloppy version of the mens. Tennis has always been a draw...but we don't really have any personalities in women's tennis like there were in the 90s. On the other hand, everyone knows Federer, Nadal, etc. I'd be willing to say someone lower down the ATP rankings like Nishikori or Raonic might be more known by general public than the top women. People only know Naomi Osaka because of her temper tantrum and bitch fight with the Williams, where as Nishikori is recognized for keeping up in a western man's sport and Raonic has been on variety shows/trended on social media because of his terrifying serve (literally hits the head off the racket IN PRACTICE) I have a casual passing interest in tennis and until today had NO idea who Ashleigh Bartley is (current top seed, women's ATP) That's how non factor womens tennis is culturally right now. The biggest regret the Williams sisters will have is they actually didn't grow the sport at all whereas I'm 100% sure there are a few kids out there right now with Pete Sampras on their wall
Japanese women's pro wrestling is an interesting one, it's less athletic than Japanese mens, but pretty much as athletic as WWE mens, meaning it's actually quite good. The Japanese women also take advantage of lower weights and more elastic bodies to really stiff each other, which makes it way more real. Add in how cute some of the ladies are and it's a great show. STARDOM has an annual tournament where the women fight over a ball gown and it's rather visceral and well programmed in terms of story and choreo.
It absolutely is about skill. If women had it at the same levels as men, people would watch. I'd venture to say even more would watch for the curiosity factor.
They lack similar skill as the men. Simple as that.
More people watch women's volleyball and women's gymnastics than men despite the obvious skill difference. Skill is one reason why people tune in, but not the only reason.
Women deserve less pay because fewer people watch generating less revenue. If more people watched, they'd deserve more money regardless of the level of skill on the field.
The reason they get paid less is simple and obvious. Why people don't watch is much more complicated.
More people watching women's volleyball (beach volleyball in particular) and gymnastics than the men's equivalent probably has something to do with the uniforms.
Actual fan of both. It isn't just because the women are pretty. Women's beach has way more team work and partner dynamics come a lot into pay. Mens beach is power spike serve and then one homo looking dude jumps after it, same thing, every time. BORING. Women's is like a chess match and it's pretty impressive when a 110 lbs woman slams it almost as hard as the men. The gender divide also isn't as big as in women's tennis for example. I've seen videos of Kerri Walsh Jennings playing in charity coed duos, and you can see the men think "I need to hold back less or else I'm losing this one" Beach volley is one where women regularly train with men..so there's that.
I also prefer womens gymnastics for floor. Sure Unevens, rings or pommel, the men are in another league, but floor is where women shine. Women's bodies make gymnastics and figure skating way more aesthetic and graceful. in skating, for example, Judging triples or quads on men's is pretty hard because the speed hides so many mistakes where as slightly slower movements in women means you can see the really botched ones but also marvel at the 100% perfect ones. IOC judges for mens have to be incredibly analytical because mistakes are absolutely made when judging. It's one reason a lot of top men willingly choose to go ice dancing, because there's less chance a slow judge will end up costing you a medal by a decimal.
I totally agree that other women's sports suck because there is NO advantage to the gender difference. Soccer is slower and therefore more boring. Basketball could be really interesting if it was super heavy on fundamentals and strategy, but it is just a slow and sloppy version of the mens. Tennis has always been a draw...but we don't really have any personalities in women's tennis like there were in the 90s. On the other hand, everyone knows Federer, Nadal, etc. I'd be willing to say someone lower down the ATP rankings like Nishikori or Raonic might be more known by general public than the top women. People only know Naomi Osaka because of her temper tantrum and bitch fight with the Williams, where as Nishikori is recognized for keeping up in a western man's sport and Raonic has been on variety shows/trended on social media because of his terrifying serve (literally hits the head off the racket IN PRACTICE) I have a casual passing interest in tennis and until today had NO idea who Ashleigh Bartley is (current top seed, women's ATP) That's how non factor womens tennis is culturally right now. The biggest regret the Williams sisters will have is they actually didn't grow the sport at all whereas I'm 100% sure there are a few kids out there right now with Pete Sampras on their wall
Japanese women's pro wrestling is an interesting one, it's less athletic than Japanese mens, but pretty much as athletic as WWE mens, meaning it's actually quite good. The Japanese women also take advantage of lower weights and more elastic bodies to really stiff each other, which makes it way more real. Add in how cute some of the ladies are and it's a great show. STARDOM has an annual tournament where the women fight over a ball gown and it's rather visceral and well programmed in terms of story and choreo.