Dollars and Cents, Sexism and Sense

Millions of young girls lace up their cleats, tie their sneakers, and dive into youth sports with the same fiery passion as their male counterparts. Yet, as they approach their teenage years, a steady departure from this love of sports begins. Statistics have revealed the staggering reality that girls are 1.5 times more likely to drop out of athletics than boys at the youth level. While many attribute this decline to shifting social interests or academic pressures, a much deeper, systemic issue is present. Young girls are walking away because the dream of playing professionally is overpowered by a harsh financial reality. For female athletes, dedicating their lives to a sport rarely guarantees they will be able to provide for themselves.

Before a girl even reaches high school, she is keenly aware of how society views female athletes. Young athletes look to professional leagues to find role models and envision their futures. What they often see is an environment where women’s sports are historically undervalued, underfunded, and relegated to the margins of sports media. When society treats women’s athletics as an afterthought, the message inevitably trickles down to the youth level. Girls start to internalise the idea that their hard work, sweat, and dedication are fundamentally worth less than a boy’s. This societal devaluation directly fuels a massive loss of confidence. When the world looks down upon the highest level of your sport, the innate motivation to endure grueling practices and weekend tournaments naturally fades.

For a young boy playing basketball or soccer, the ultimate dream of “going pro” is equated with the image of generational wealth and financial security. For a young girl, that same dream is instead linked to immense pay gap inequity. And if you are thinking that this is a made-up problem that women have fabricated, it’s not. In 2025, zero women made the list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes. The grim reality for most female athletes is that playing professional sports is not a single, sustainable career, but a passion project that requires a second job just to survive. Recent survey data from Parity—a sports marketing and sponsorship agency—exposes the economic reality of women’s sports: 74% of women athletes work outside of sports to make ends meet.

The financial compensation in these leagues is simply not enough to live on. When young girls look at their role models and see them exhausted, juggling a corporate job or a coaching gig just to afford rent and groceries, the message sent is that being a professional female athlete is an uphill battle for basic survival.

We cannot expect young girls to stay in the game when the finish line offers little more than financial hardship. The systemic inequities that force elite female athletes to work secondary jobs are sending a damaging message to the youth. Closing the immense pay gap, securing equitable media rights, and ensuring a living wage for female athletes is for today’s professionals and for tomorrow’s generation. When young girls can finally look at professional women’s sports and see a viable, respected, and financially secure career path, they will stop hanging up their cleats at 14.