{"id":19769,"date":"2020-02-25T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T00:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=19769"},"modified":"2020-02-27T00:46:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T00:46:56","slug":"girls-are-reaching-new-heights-in-basketball-but-huge-pay-gaps-await-them-as-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/girls-are-reaching-new-heights-in-basketball-but-huge-pay-gaps-await-them-as-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls are reaching new heights in basketball, but huge pay gaps await them as professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corinne M. Daprano<\/a>, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em> and Leslie H. Picca<\/a>, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Women have made great strides in the world of sports over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n

Especially in some individual sports, female champion athletes today earn far more money and command a much bigger audience than their predecessors \u2013 thanks to breakthroughs by tennis champions like Billie Jean King and Venus and Serena Williams<\/a> and top golfers such as Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez and Michele Wie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We are fans of women\u2019s basketball and scholars who study the role that gender plays in sports<\/a> and the changing status of female athletes<\/a>. Despite massive changes in attitudes toward women who excel at sports overall, with few exceptions we\u2019ve observed that the disparity between what adolescent boys and girls<\/a> can aspire to accomplish in professional basketball today remains enormous.<\/p>\n

This gap has become more visible due to the deaths of retired basketball legend Kobe Bryant<\/a>, his daughter Gianna<\/a> and two of the other girls<\/a> on the basketball team he coached<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cGigi,\u201d the 13-year-old by all accounts inherited not only her former NBA player father\u2019s love of the game, but silky smooth moves as well. She aspired to attend the University of Connecticut<\/a> where she would play on its highly ranked women\u2019s basketball team<\/a>. Mourners spoke reverently about Gigi\u2019s intentions to play professionally<\/a> and carry on her father\u2019s legacy during a star-studded memorial service<\/a> for both of them held on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n