Beating the financial gender divide in sport: Dame Valerie Adams and footballer Claudia Bunge

New Zealand athletes Dame Valerie Adams and footballer Claudia Bunge come from different sporting worlds. Their journeys, successes and most obviously their codes - in athletics and football - vary tremendously.

But both have walked the same path, navigating professional sporting careers as female athletes. The pair opened up to the Herald about their pathway, with two-times Olympic gold medallist Adams speaking about the importance of sponsors taking a chance on female athletes.

“It’s them giving the athletes an opportunity to live out their dreams, to represent their country, to do what they can.

“I know that it’s very, very hard - especially for female athletes - to get sponsorship but [sponsoring brands] should look at what they can get out of it as well, as a company.”

The Kiwi shot putter said male and female athletes are generally treated as equals, but says there’s “absolutely” a difference when it comes down to money.

“For example, 100-metre men sprinters will get more limelight and more money than say, for example, the 100-metre women sprinters,” Adams said. “It’s been a part of our life, society, for such a long time.”

Claude Bunge (left) in action against Norway. Photo / Photosport

Adams and Bunge are both supported by Visa.

“They enabled me to have a career,” Adams said, “not worry about financial stresses I would have otherwise and actually gave me the opportunity to leave my job at the time to focus on a sport and a passion I was really into.”

While at the opposite end of her career, Football Fern Bunge acknowledges the “privilege” of having a level of financial support that most female athletes would be lucky to get.

“Even hearing some of the older girls in the Ferns going from not even getting paid to play for your country - and now we do get that opportunity, it’s amazing.”

But the 23-year-old said there was still an imbalance in financial support between male and female athletes. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do, a lot of boundaries to keep pushing in terms of equality.

“At the end of the day, we are doing exactly the same as our male counterparts, we work equally as hard.”

Bunge, who is set to compete at this year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, said she hoped the World Cup will see more growth in support for female athletes.

“It just shows if you’re going to invest in women’s football, you’re going to get some return.”

While Adams acknowledged to the Herald that she hasn’t watched much football, she’s excited for the biggest female sporting event to be hosted on home soil.

“I just hope New Zealand can put the same vibe - the same energy - into the Football Ferns, as what they did with the Black Ferns [in last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup]. It was amazing! It was really an exciting time for this country!”

‘Save for a rainy day’: Adams’ advice for young sportswomen

Adams said young sportswomen should set their financial plans early. “When you start getting paid for the sport or you are getting recognised with sponsorship deals and all the rest of it, make sure you do save up and you have financial goals along the way.”

The 38-year-old told the Herald one of her first financial goals as a rising athlete was to buy a house.

“That was actually only because we never grew up in our own home, we grew up in a state house, and I wanted to break that cycle.

“I grew up in a very humble home with not a lot of money - basically $40 to feed five mouths - that’s what my mum had to budget our family on. I saw that and I learned very quickly from a very young age; I wasn’t going to struggle that badly.

“My biggest asset for me is my house and that for me was my security blanket and making sure my children had a home to call their own.”

Valerie Adams competing at the 2012 London Olympics. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Adams says she was never driven by money, but admits landing an early sponsorship deal helped her focus - and excel - in her career.

The Olympic legend told the Herald: “Shot putting isn’t somewhere you go to get rich - you don’t make a lot of money out of the sport.

“You don’t do most sports for money - let’s just put that out there,” Adams said, emphasising the need to save for “a rainy day”.

As a retired athlete, her top piece of advice for young sportswomen was: “Live within your means.”

“I’m a Kmart girl - my kids are in Postie and Kmart all the time. I’m not a label person,” Adams acknowledged. “My clothes that I get are sponsored.”

Being a female athlete, she said she always knew her earning potential would be less than her male counterparts.

“For me personally, because I wasn’t driven by money, it didn’t matter how much money I was going to make out of sport.

“But don’t get me wrong, it did make things easier for me especially when Visa came on board [as a sponsor] and took me on before I even won my first world title,” said the four-time Olympian. “And that was the only time I was able to leave my job. I actually had to work right up until the time I won the Olympics before I actually stopped working and started focusing completely on track and field.

“Now that I am retired, I definitely am more wary about things because you do read stories on the news about sportspeople who are just blowing their money and becoming bankrupt and all the rest of it.

“You don’t need to get yourself to that stage, honestly.”