What looks like an innocent picture of two junior surfers holding their winner’s cheque after a surfing competition in South Africa posted on social media has become a centre of furious debate over gender equality. The photo shows a big difference in their earnings. The controversial image was uploaded onto the Ballito Pro Facebook page and it didn’t take long before thousands of angry comments about the pay gap came flooding in.

Female champion of the Billabong Pro Junior series in Ballito, South Africa, Zoe Steyn won 4000 rand over the weekend while Rio Waida, the male winner, beat off the competition to earn himself 8000 rand. Thousands shared the post further afield on Twitter and Facebook, with comments such as: “Did the girls surf a different ocean that was easier we don’t know about?”

Picture of Rio Waida and Zoe Steyn, Winners of Junior Surfing Competition

Surfing competition gender pay gap. (Photo Credits: More from the women's game/Twitter)

“The fact that you do not care at all about the pay gap in your competition, but in fact readily display it is simply astounding,” wrote one angry commenter on the competition’s Facebook page, alongside a one-star review. While another commenter said, “Disgusting and blatant discrimination in your payment of the two winners. Half for the girl cause you’re only half as good as your male competitors is what you’re saying. The 1950s called, they want their pay scale back. Move with the times and don’t support the gender pay gap.”

Ballito Pro then attempted to handball the criticism to the World Surf League (WSL), the governing body of the event. However, WSL Australia/Oceania Regional Manager Will Hayden-Smith told TripleJ’s Hack there is more to the photo than meets the eye. He claims the sum onto the winner’s cheques in surfing competition is determined by how many surfers are in the male and female fields. “Men get double the prize money only because there are double the competitors,” Will Hayden-Smith told ABC. “In Australia, the prize money at a junior event is 2,500 dollars for women and 5,000 dollars for men. In men’s field we have 64 surfers and in the women’s field we have 24.”

ABC reports that critics have argued that one way of increasing the popularity of women’s surfing could be to increase the amount of prize money. Top female pro surfers have said they are expected to wear bikinis instead of boardies when they compete to attract sponsors. More than 10 years after the conservative organisers of Wimbeldon agreed to award equal prize money to female tennis players, surfing’s stance may look dated.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 28, 2018 01:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).