Padel, an example for women's sport.

Jun 13, 2023Mar Fondevila Cornado0 comments

What makes it special is the high female presence, both at amateur and professional level.

Padel has become a worldwide phenomenon. A sport that is constantly growing and has experienced a significant boom in recent years.

One of the details that makes it a truly special sport is the high female presence . Both at amateur and professional level, the presence of women is clearly the protagonist and has had a very positive influence on the evolution and growth in which this sport is immersed. Thus, although there is still a lot of room for improvement towards equal conditions, padel can be an example to follow in women's sport.

A sport with a lot of female participation

Only behind football, padel is now the second most popular sport in Spain. With more than two million regular players, the number of people who dare to pick up a paddle is growing every day, and, to a large extent, women have been fundamental to the evolution and change that this sport is undergoing year after year. In fact, if we look at the different clubs throughout the country, it is always common to see women playing and enjoying this sport. In addition, it must be taken into account that padel has a characteristic that is essential to see in many other disciplines. This is the mixed category, where the different couples are made up of a woman and a man.

This phenomenon is clearly reflected if we look at the numbers of the federation membership cards, which confirm the potential of Spanish women's padel. According to data from the Spanish Padel Federation (FEP), during 2022, a total of 96,561 licenses were distributed throughout the state. And, in this sense, female participation must be positively highlighted. Of the total of almost 100,000 membership cards, 64.8% belong to men, while the remaining 35.2% are represented by women. This means that the number of federated women who play padel in Spain rises to almost 34,000, a truly significant figure.

The success of women's padel at a professional level

The good figures achieved by amateur women's padel, with a large participation that has reached almost 34,000 state federation licenses in 2022, is finally bearing fruit in professional padel. In this case, right now Spain is surely the greatest power in terms of women's padel at a global level. Whether we look at the best world circuits or even at national team competitions, the peninsular country has some of the best players in the world.

On the World Padel Tour, we find six Spanish players in the top positions of the ranking. We are talking about Ari Sánchez, Paula Josemaría, Gemma Triay, Alejandra Salazar, Martita Ortega and Bea González. But, beyond this fact, it should also be noted that within the top 10, there are up to 9 players born in peninsular territory. Patty Llaguno, Lucía Sainz and Victoria Iglesias are the other protagonists, while the Argentine Virginia Riera is the only exception in this case.

It is clear that there is still a long way to go to achieve total equality and that the figure is clearly below that of men. However, we are talking about very positive data if we take into account the number of practitioners of this sport and, above all, if we look at the comparison with other disciplines.

In the end, the best players in the world are a reflection of many girls who are fans of padel who are starting out in this sport. And, in this case, not only in Spain, but also all over the world.

Equal pay at the World Padel Tour, a historic step for women's sport

When we talk about the great role of women in padel, we do not only do so because of their participation rate at an amateur level, but above all because at a professional level it has already been able to achieve some truly historic and practically unprecedented milestones . In this sense, padel can be considered a mirror in which to reflect for women's sport, which experiences constant contempt in many other disciplines that dream of equal opportunities that right now seem very far from being achieved -yes, even in padel-.

After a constant struggle by the Association of Professional Padel Players, who went so far as to refuse to compete in some tournaments, such as the Spanish Championship, World Padel Tour announced that women would be paid the same as men in all of its tournaments.