What's wrong with this picture? Ballito Pro surfing competition under fire for 'blatant sexism'

Both winners surfed the same ocean, under the same conditions, with the same equipment - but got very different prizes. Photo / Facebook

Above you have a photo of the two winners of the Ballito Pro surfing competition. Can you see what's wrong?

The competition is under fire after thousands of social media users complained of "blatant sexism" in the prize money awarded to the female and male winners.

The surfing tournament, sponsored by Billabong, was held in South Africa, 40km north of Durban, and the winners were split into a male and a female category.

Both winners surfed the same ocean, under the same conditions, with the same equipment - but got very different prizes. Photo / Facebook

The two winners of the Ballito Pro Junior, Rio Waida from Indonesia and Zoe Steyn from South Africa, surfed the same ocean, with the same equipment and were judged on the same criteria.

The male winner won R8,000 (just over NZ$800) while the female winner won exactly half, for doing the exact same thing.

People took to Facebook to express their disappointment.

"Wow! Blatant inequality Billabong ... I hope your clothes are half the price for women if this is the case," a Facebook user commented.

"Did the girls surf a different ocean that was easier we don't know about ? This is pathetic," another one said.

"I'm sorry but this is actually disgusting. I am outraged. I was there and watched the whole day, these girls shred just as hard as any boy," someone else commented.

Faced with the waves of criticism, the organisers later put out a statement on social media, shifting the blame to someone else.

"The World Surf League is the governing and sanctioning body of the event that determine all prize money and rankings. We have brought this to their attention for further comment," the tournament organisers said.