A photo from the podium of an international surf competition has sparked a heated debate about gender equality and the controversial pay gap in sport.

The image shows the two grinning winners of the Billabong Pro Junior series in Ballito, South Africa on the weekend - one male, one female, both brandishing their prize money.

As many viewers have astutely noted, however, there's something of a disparity between them.

Scroll down for video

An image of recent surf competition winners Rio Waida (left) and Zoe Steyn (right) has attracted the ire of social media users after it showed a glaring disparity between the two surfers' pay grades

While male winner Rio Waida lofts a cheque to the tune of 8000 rand ($800 AUD) female champ Zoe Steyn's cheque is scrawled with a relatively meagre sum of 4000 rand ($400 AUD).

And it wasn't long before the telltale image, uploaded to the Ballito Pro Facebook page on Monday, attracted the ire of social media users.

'Disgusting and blatant discrimination in your payment of the two winners,' wrote one commenter.

'Half for the girl cause you're only half as good as your male competitors is what you're saying... Move with the times and don't support the gender pay gap.'

'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 another.

'I'm sure that every young female surfer is seriously rethinking their future after seeing this.'

'Half for the girl cause you're only half as good as your male competitors is what you're saying' wrote one social media user (pictured: Australian surfer Lindsay Noyes)

The photo has since been shared thousands of times online, with many weighing in to condemn the competition and its sponsors for the seemingly sexist disproportion of winnings.

Whilst admitting that the image 'on first glance does look like a huge disparity', however, World Surf League Australia/Oceania Regional Manager Will Hayden-Smith, claims it doesn't tell the full story behind the different pay grades.

Mr Hayden-Smith told the ABC the issue was 'complicated', and suggested that it was the amount of competitors in each event rather than the gender of the athletes themselves that ultimately determined the sum of the prize money.

'Men get double the prize money only because there are double the competitors,' he said.

'In Australia, the prize money at a junior event is $2500 for women and $5000 for men. In the men's field we have 64 surfers and in the women's field we have 24.'

World Surf League Australia/Oceania Regional Manager Will Hayden-Smith claimed it was the amount of competitors rather than the gender of the athletes that ultimately determined the sum of the prize money (pictured: Australian surfer Mick Fanning)

Mr Hayden-Smith went on to claim that what the image really highlights is a lack of popularity in women's surfing.

The World Surf League found itself in similarly hot water earlier this year, when proponents of the #metoo movement barracked for cinematographers not to zoom in on female surfers.

Sexual harassment was reportedly the number one topic for the organisation's human resources department when they met during the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast in March.

Daily Mail Australia have approached Billabong, but they refused to comment and directed all inquiries on to the World Surf League.

Billabong stated that they have no intentions of commenting on the matter going forward.