Surfing’s international coordinator the World Surf League has declared that it will henceforth offer equal prizes to male and female athletes in all of its events, beginning next year.

Australian Surfer, Stephanie Gilmore. Source: WSL

Earlier in June 2018, the league came under scrutiny for its vast gender pay disparity once a photograph from a junior surf competition in the Republic of South Africa summed up the problem succinctly: The winner of the men’s component held up an enormous check for eight thousand rand (AUD $740.80), whereas the female winner earned one for four thousand rand (AUD $370.40).

The Guardian (Australian Newspaper) notes that California’s government made equal pay a requirement for WSL to go ahead with its annual ‘big-wave competition’ in Mavericks.

But the league aforementioned its call wasn’t directly associated with the South African controversy, blowback online nor the Mavericks issue.

The new policy closes a major pay gap between men and women at the league’s surf competitions. At WSL events in Australia earlier this year, the men’s winner was paid $100,000, whereas the top woman was paid $65,000.

Banner Image Source: Pexels.