Equal, or Comparable

The fight for equal pay for equal work is easier than one involving equal pay for comparable work.  If A and B (or Man and Woman) do the same job, they should get the same pay.  But if the jobs are different, how exactly do you compare?

That’s a good part of the problem facing professional women’s sports and why I think it’s a mistake to add more differences into the discussion (see Elena Delle Donne and the lowered rim).  Recently, the argument over pay has focused on women’s tennis and now, with a formal protest to the Equal Economic Opportunity Commission, soccer.  Proponents for equal pay have television ratings on their side, at least for soccer, and any tournament featuring Selena Williams does pretty well, too.  Opponents can cite the difference in match length for tennis (best of three sets for women, best of five for men), but there is no difference in time of game of size of field in soccer.  So, the comparison is easier and tilts more towards equal for equal.

Of course, everything would get turned upside down if a woman would ever break into the ranks of an all-male sport.  Where have you gone, Branch Rickey, when a nation turns its lonely eyes to you?