Britney Griner in press conference talks gender inequality in pay
WNBA player Britney Griner, in her first press conference since her nearly 10-month detainment in Russia, implied that her ordeal wouldn’t have happened if she was paid fairly for her work. Griner stated that she would never go overseas to play again unless it was to represent her country at the Olympics. She added that many WNBA players go overseas during the offseason to make an income to support themselves and their families, due to the pay gap between the WNBA and other leagues.
As previously reported by ESSENCE, WNBA players are notoriously overplayed and underpaid, with the average salary for a player in the 2022 season being $102,751 among 151 athletes. The option to play overseas allows players to earn larger salaries that rival the WNBA’s five-month salary cap of just over $110,000. In contrast, the NBA’s cap is nearly $110 million, with a base salary of over $580,000.
Griner was charged with carrying vape cartridges with a small amount of cannabis oil in her luggage in 2022 and was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia before being released via a prisoner swap negotiated by the U.S. government. Despite her negative experience, Griner refused to criticize other players who go overseas to make extra money, acknowledging the wealth gap women players face compared to their male counterparts in the NBA, who earn an average of $5.4 million, compared to WNBA players who earn $120,600 on average, according to an NPR report.
Women in the U.S. earn on average only 82% of what men make, and black women make 39% less than their male peers. Griner hopes that the WNBA continues to grow, and that companies start to invest more in women’s sports.
