How gender pay gap led US basketball star to prison

On February 17, 2022, at Sherementyevo International Airport, Moscow, American basketball superstar Brittney Yevette Griner was arrested for possession of two empty film cartridges, each containing less than a gramme of hashish oil, a by-product of cannabis.

In In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court, Brittney expresses how she was recruited by and played for the Houston Hotshots basketball team of the Amateur Athletic Union, which exposed her to local competitions.

In January 2007, a basketball fan made a video of Brittney, titled Brittney Griner: High School Girl Dunker, and uploaded it on YouTube. It went viral and the media started paying close attention to her.

The following season, she averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks per game, earning a basketball scholarship to study Bachelor of Science in Education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, on November 12, 2008.

She became the first person in her family to attain a university education. In her first year, she grew to six feet six inches tall, with an 88-inch arm span.

She dented her fame on March 3, 2010, when she punched Jordan Barncastle, a Texas Tech opponent, breaking her nose after an altercation during a mismatch. The fight also went viral on YouTube and earned her four-game suspension, community service and a season-long therapy session with a psychiatrist.

Despite the scar, she led Baylor to 40 wins and no losses that season, averaging 23 points per game and was elected to the first-team All-American.

Brittney then commandeered Baylor into March Madness, the most congested fixture period in US college basketball during the postseason and led them to a National Collegiate Athletic Association championship with a victory over Notre Dame. She was named national Player of the Year.

From her sophomore year to her senior year, Brittney's height increased to six feet eight inches. Her stats had drastically improved as she averaged a triple-double of 33 points, 15.5 rebounds, and 11.7 blocks per game, while wearing size 17 pair of shoes and dunking a record 50 times in her final varsity season.

During her professional recruitment, she was signed by the Phoenix Mercury, into the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), as the first draft pick. Brittney also signed with an agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas of Wasserman Media, who represents several WNBA stars. Lindsay earned her a Nike endorsement contract.

Inequality

Due to gender disparity and inequality in remuneration, WNBA contracts are not as phenomenally lucrative as the financially thriving male NBA contracts.

Shoestring funding and low wages have resulted in female basketballers searching for foreign contractual agreements to supplement their WNBA incomes.

Therefore, during the off-season, WNBA agents hunted for overseas deals for their clients. Brittney's first foreign contract was with Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls, in Zhejiang China, a two-hour drive from the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai.

Brittney then led the US Women’s basketball team to two International Basketball Federation (Fiba) World Cup titles, in Turkey in 2014, and Spain in 2018 and guided them to two Olympic gold medals, in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

In 2015, she signed for UMMC Ekaterinberg, a Moscow-based women’s league team, leading them to three Russian championship titles and four Euro League victories between 2016 and 2021.

It was evident from the onset that her arrest in Moscow on February 17, 2022, was politically motivated. Vladimir Putin opted to use her as leverage as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the US at a time when The Kremlin and the White House were at odds over the Ukraine war.

Also read: Inclusive leadership key to closing gender pay gaps in health

Brittney's trial began on July 1, 2022, almost six months after her arrest, while she was incarcerated in Lubyanka Prison within Moscow. She pleaded guilty to the misdemeanour charges and in early August, she was sentenced to a stunning nine years. On November 17, she was relocated to snow-covered Yavas in the Russian penal colony of Mordovia.

Upon entry, she was stripped nude and searched as prying male guards watched. She later walked into the crowded communal dormitory she would share with over 100 female hard-core criminals, with planks that passed as bunks. There was a stinking small pit hole that served as a toilet, in the rear of the room.

Prisoners were fed on a poor diet of stale bread and porridge, leaving Brittney in perpetual starvation. They were forced to sew daily for 16 hours until their hands bled.

Brittney ended up cutting her dreadlocks, because they froze every time she showered, due to the unforgiving sub-zero temperatures. On May 17, 2022, agents of the US government began negotiating with the Kremlin for a prison swap.

Russia facilitated Brittney's acquittal, in exchange for the infamous international Russian mass arms dealer and 'merchant of death' Viktor Bout.

He had been incarcerated in Marion Penitentiary in Illinois, USA, since February 2010 after being sentenced to 25 years. The prison swap took place in Dubai, UAE. On December 8, 2022, Brittney finally tasted freedom.

The reviewer is a novelist, a Big Brother Africa 2 Kenyan representative and founder of Jeff's Fitness Centre (@jeffbigbrother).