Forbes has just come out with their list of the Highest paid

Forbes has just come out with their list of the Highest paid female athletes.

Women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in the U.S., according to data from the Census Bureau. The pay gap is even worse in the world of sports. The maximum salary in the WNBA is $107,000. Kobe Bryant will earn $30.5 million from the Los Angeles Lakers next season.

Inbee Park won $585,000 for her 2013 U.S. Open golf title. The men’s winner, Justin Rose, pocketed $1.4 million for his victory. Park is having a golf season for the ages and could pocket $5 million from prize money and endorsements in 2013. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods reigns as the world’s highest-paid athlete with earnings of $78 million.

The income difference derives from the gap in revenues generated by the stars of these sports, but there is one major sport where men and women compete on equal footing: tennis.

China’s Li Na makes for a clean sweep of the top three from the world of tennis. She earned an estimated $18.2 million, including $3.2 million in prize money. Like Sharapova, Li catapulted onto the world stage with a Grand Slam win and into the arms of sponsors. She became the first Asian-born player to win a singles Grand Slam event at the 2011 French Open, which quickly led to seven multimillion-dollar endorsement deals after the historic win, including Samsung and Mercedes-Benz.

South Korean figure skating champion Kim Yuna ranks No. 6 with estimated earnings of $14 million. Kim took a year off from competing before returning in December, and she captured her second World Championship in February. Kim is the headline act in the All That Skate figure skating show and she is a staple on TV in South Korea thanks to commercials for her dozen sponsors including Samsung, Korean Air and KB Financial. Kim is expected to be one of the leading stars at the 2014 Winter Olympics.