BALTIMORE — Last fall, Mia Ewell and a male college athlete did the same promotional work for an online employment company. But when it was time to get paid, Ewell, a junior shortstop for the Morgan State softball team, received $30 less than her counterpart.
“It’s not a huge amount of money that I’m that upset about. But it was the fact that it even happened,” she said. “It was kind of like, ‘If I’m doing the same work, why am I not receiving the same compensation?’ It’s disappointing, but as a woman and as someone who has lived the life of a young girl and has done all this, it’s not that surprising.”
Ewell and Olivia Rothfeld, a junior singles player for Towson tennis, are hoping to change that outlook. They signed a name, image and likeness deal last month with H&R Block’s “A Fair Shot” program to raise awareness about the imbalance of NIL deals between male and female college athletes.