Females Almost Never Receive Top Billing

NFL QB #drewbrees is paid $40 million per season, mostly male mascots receive up to $65k a year, yet female NFL cheerleaders with grueling practices get just $90/game or $750/year, maximum. NFL cheerleaders are the highest paid amongst major professional sports leagues. Many cheerleaders get paid nothing at all despite their significant investment in time, training, makeup, hair and clothes. Sheesh.

Women almost never get top billing as film credits roll even though selling one without a strong female lead… well, good luck with that.

Most novels and movies can’t even pass the simple Bechdel Test–where at least one scene has 2 women talking to each other about something other than a man.

How many women head up Fortune 500 companies? Not many.

The answer is 23, 4.6%.

What if we look at the next 500 firms? Maybe because these businesses are smaller, more women will head them up.

Nope.

Another 23 (4.6%).

Now why is that?

When I ran the Ottawa Senators, our first year mascot was a crazy American who crossed the border illegally to work with us. We didn’t know that at the time.

He was an incredibly energetic mascot inclined to do dangerous stunts including one time not being able to get across the border (having been refused entry to Canada) so he crossed Lake Ontario (really a friggin’ inland sea, folks) in a tiny motorboat and made his gig with about 5 minutes to spare.

He was the Sens most popular “player” in their first season back in the NHL (1992/93) handing out more than 85,000 autographs (paw prints) that year. Our mascot had no problem asking for a salary including bonuses for community appearances of $85,000 for the following year*.

You see it works like this: men overestimate their own abilities and underestimate women’s; women underestimate their own abilities and men’s as well.

Long way to go, sisters and brothers…

@ Prof Bruce

* He never received that amount and was lucky not to land in jail or be deported back to his homeland. Before he left, he explained to me his ultimate goal–his plan was to get his own Amerika mascot outfit (with wings) and his own personal jet decaled to match the costume.

Next he would fly into the world’s trouble spots and because he was so cute, so funny and so fantastic, a party would break out wherever he landed. Finally, peace and goodwill would start to spread like a San Francisco fog coming in off the Pacific ocean in a Nocal summer.

Postscript:

Young (24-year old) actress Hayden Panettiere managed to grab to top billing on tv series, Nashville not just because of her looks. Judge for yourself if she has talent–

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Wgob615UE] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeOZ21Lenro?list=PLd3QdcBlEm98omoqgyU-r3BABq53URwnd]

Sources:

https://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-fortune-1000

https://www.therichest.com/sports/football-sports/nfls-cheerleaders-salary/