Diamonds and Firebirds star Gretel Bueta reveals incredible disparity in sport’s gender pay gap

Diamonds and Firebirds star Gretel Bueta has revealed the incredible disparity in sport’s gender pay gap, highlighted by the day her footy-playing brothers “felt sorry” for her.

Just a year before the elite Super Netball competition was launched, Gretel Bueta was cock-a-hoop after winning a second successive national league title with the Queensland Firebirds.

Bueta was being lauded for her part in the victories but her brothers — AFL players Kurt and Joel Tippett — “felt sorry” for her.

“We’d just won an ANZ championships back to back and I was still on, I think, five per cent of what they were on,” Bueta said of her pay at the time.

The introduction of Super Netball — the world’s premier domestic league — raised the stakes and Bueta, who will sit out the upcoming season while pregnant with her second child, is widely regarded as one of the best shooters in the world and is one of the better paid players in the league.

Gretel Bueta is one of the best players in Super Netball and a Diamonds star.

But it’s still not her sole source of income and while both brothers have long since retired, her pay remains a long way off what they were earning.

“But that was the beauty of it. I played because I loved it, I didn’t play for the money and I still don’t,” Bueta said.

“Even though the sport has grown, you still have that (reason) why you play and it’s definitely not because of (money).”

For all the exciting moves in women’s professional sport over the past fortnight — the historic Women’s Premier League (WPL) cricket auction, the Federal Government’s $2 million injection into the Wallaroos’ program and the NRL’s announcement of momentous pay and structural changes for its NRLW program — there continues to be a significant gap between men’s and women’s wages in sport, just as in the rest of society.

A 2019 study found the full-time gender pay gap in ‘Sports and Recreation Activities’ was 30 per cent — almost double the national average.

In addition, women make up only a fraction of board chairs and CEOs in Australian sporting organisations.

Most women have a second job, or juggle tertiary studies with their training and playing commitments to ensure they are not left behind when their playing days are over.

Gretel Bueta is one of the better paid players in netball — but it’s still not her sole income.

That’s particularly true on the domestic scene, where pay for women lags significantly behind the men.

Things are changing though and most women believe there has never been a more exciting time to be involved in sport given the myriad options they can now pursue professionally.

Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick said Rugby Australia’s decision to pay the women the same base rate as the men (as the best player in the world, Caslick’s contract is likely to be significantly more than some of her male counterparts) allowed all athletes to concentrate on performance.

“When you want to perform as an athlete, you want your mental and physical space looked after. And I feel like financial worries is like something that stresses out a lot of people that don’t even have to then use their body as their main tool,” she said.

“The girls now that are joining the program have the same minimum wage as the men, so everyone that joins is completely equal to the boys, which is really cool,” Caslick said.

“It allows you to live more comfortably. Previously, your whole wage would just be going on rent.

“Now we’re getting paid really well, that isn’t a burden, it’s a stress that’s taken away from your day to day.”

Read the latest edition