AFLW pays double, towards full time professional football for females?

With Rochelle Eime

It is great to see that the Australian Football League (AFL) is supporting its AFLW players to be the highest paid female professional athletes in the country.

As stated by the AFL players association, almost doubling the pay for AFLW players in the season to come is an important step towards its players becoming full professionals by 2026.

Irrespective of the obvious comparisons with the average pay of male AFL players ($372,224 per season as compared to about $55,000), the fact that a significant proportional increase has been negotiated shows the long-term intent of the AFL to rapidly develop the elite level of the AFLW competition.

From an objective business point of view, it therefore has to be noted that the duration of the AFL season is roughly 2.5 times that of the AFLW, which would take the average AFLW salary to about $140,000 if the time factor was monetised. One then has to adjust this calculation further to accommodate for current commercial returns, including attendance, broadcast, digital and sponsorship revenues, as income that is directly linked to either the AFL or AFLW competition. The majority of the income for the AFL continues to be generated by the men’s game. Taking this rational hard core business perspective, it can then be argued that the AFL is on track to bringing the revenue generating capacity of both competitions in line with the rewards that are being paid to its principal producers – the athletes. However, this only represents the elite end of the full picture of how a genuine, equitable and integrated football pathway should be created for aspiring female players.

Recent research conducted by Victoria University and Federation University and funded by the Change our Game grant program has delivered concerning and disturbing insights at the level of community sport clubs in sports such as cricket, Australian football and soccer. 

Women and girls continue to face significant obstacles in regard to equity of access and equal treatment in what historically are male dominated sports.

The research highlighted several factors specific to participation in male-dominated sports that shaped women and girl’s experiences. Club leadership generally valued the inclusion of women and girls and there was some commitment to develop the skills of females to play and coach within male-dominated sports.

However, some of the most significant negative influences, stemmed from prevalent gender norms and stereotypes that continue to privilege men’s participation and leadership in sport, whereby unconscious gender bias within club practices and community behaviours marginalise females.

Cultural and organisational changes (such as gender balanced boards) are slow especially when they include the need for significant power shifts in society (i.e. the shift from a dominant male-culture) as well as significant infrastructure development such as female change rooms and toilets, for sports that historically have not provided the same opportunity for women/girls to participate.

Respondents reported a need for greater visibility of women and girls in male-dominated sports to address these prevalent gender norms and stereotypes and disrespectful behaviours in the community.

So, what is the dilemma? Rapid changes at the elite level of competition in regard to improving the remuneration of AFLW athletes seem to ignore the need to hand-in-hand develop the talent pathway that is required to provide a steady flow of aspiring and well-developed players to the competition.

Although in recent times, 1000s of girls have flocked to the community AFL clubs, many of them are not retained due to toxic club environments that are not welcoming to them. Most of their negative experiences were a result of negative societal norms and gender biases, which were sometimes carried through to the club/organisational practices and community behaviours. This contributes to high rates of females dropping out of ‘footy’, and fewer moving into the elite pathways.

There were also inequities in access to training and competition grounds, change rooms and equipment and prevalent club practices that did not support the provision of female-friendly facilities. Finally, there were frequent reports of club and/or community spectator behaviours that were disrespectful, demeaning and discriminatory towards females, whereby males challenged women’s legitimacy to play a male-dominated sport. Overall, these experiences often had an emotional and social cost. Women and girls reported struggling with self-esteem and not feeling like they belonged in their club, as well as feeling pressured to play well to represent women and girls in sport.

Doubling the pay of AFLW athletes by the AFL should be applauded, and indeed, it is an important step on the road towards full professional AFLW football. However, the less visible part of the opportunity for females to fully participate and excel in the game lies at the community level, and many complex challenges are yet to be tackled there.

Some of the media rights riches gained by the AFL should be put to incredibly good use across community football. This will elevate the game as a whole, and at the same time improve access and inclusion of all females – and for some talented girls – on the road towards the AFLW.