Dubai to award women equal prize money

For the first time, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, a Tier II WTA tournament, will be awarding equal prize money to men and women in the popular tournament that began qualifying play yesterday. This is a big step for women's tennis, and perhaps Dubai's move will serve as a slap in the face to the European tournaments that still insist on giving men more money for their wins.

Back before the great Billie Jean King got angry and organized WTA players, the notion of giving women equal prize money was the object of ridicule in the United States. Now the U.S. leads the world in awarding equal prize money. The current excuse for paying men more is that they "work harder," that is, they have to take 3 out of 5 sets to win a match, whereas women have to win 2 out of 3. Men play 5 sets because the popular belief is that they can, whereas women's endurance is about right for 3 sets. If this is so, then--using the logic of the people who plan the tournaments--men are not working harder. You can't have it both ways: If 5 sets for men requires the same physical endurance as 3 sets for women, then why not award them the same money?

Oddly enough, the above argument is never used to justify equal prize money. The argument that is used is that the women's game is just as entertaining (these days, most people think it is more entertaining) as the men's, and there are just as many women's tennis fans (again, these days, there are more) as fans for men's tennis, so why not provide equal prize money?

The answer should be obvious.