The weirdest thing about the equal pay or equal anything argument to be broad, is that it is never about being rich and poor. It is more about jealousy and gluttony. The Canadian Women’s soccer national team has joined the bandwagon of liberal irrationality. The CWNT which did so well at the Tokyo 2020, have threatened strike action against their FA over what they deem unfair pay compared to their male counterparts. First, a little economics basics shall we. From my basic economics, labor is paid to PRODUCE goods and is paid in proportion to what value the employer perceives the worker. Let’s compare the two teams, the women’s and man’s national teams. The WNT’s calendar program is as thin as rail compared to the men’s. In other words they produce men get to work a lot more. The basis for the CWNT is that they “deserve” equal or more pay than their gender counterparts. It is born out of a socialist ideal that we are all equal no matter what we achieve individually. But is this reality? This is the reality. Equality is part of civilization. We can never be equal because , let’s face it, we have different DNA so John is bound to be more intelligent and more enterprising than me or vice versa.
This is to say that in this imperfect world, there are people who work harder than the next person (and smarter) so they are bound to accumulate wealth more than you and me. That is why Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest paid soccer player on the planet, that is why Rihanna(Super Bowl LVII here we go)is the highest paid musician in the world and Bill Gates can pay a third world country’s GDP and have change left. They can do things that most of us can’t phantom to do in our lifetime. So until CWNT can prove that they can do better than their male counterparts, they might as well be masked robbers trying to jack the Canadian FA. Money isn’t an infinite resource. Budgets have to be done, allocation of funds according to the greatest need. By forcing the Canadian FA to go above their budget forces them to take desperate measures. One of which is to take money from worthy causes such as junior teams or funding for developmental programs. All this to satisfy certain egos and make someone feel “important”. The Canadian players haven’t thought through this one at all. The players even if they manage to win their extortion war will let loose an uncontrollable spiral of events. The men are possibly going to demand more for their efforts, even the junior teams can demand more for appearances and a vicious cycle ensues. I hope they back down and get back to do what they do best, putting their country first and making them proud on the pitch.