It is 1968 and Billie Jean King is given a cheque of £700 and Rod Laver is given a cheque of £2000. This inequality of pay in tennis was first addressed by six-time Wimbledon champion, the legendary Billie Jean King. 30 years after that we have another shining tennis star taking up this problem of pay between men and women: Venus Williams.
She was an African-American and her beaded hair was criticized by the public and called as a distraction, she continually battled sexism and racism till she finally succeeded.
Her displeasure was that in 1998 her proposal for equal pay between men and women was refused in a grand slam’s event. Her fight was discouraged by many statements made by men players, Chris Gorringe, the club secretary of All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club said on BBC National Radio in 1999 that a fellow men player at the time had stated that: “They’re complaining all the time that they are not getting equal prize money. They should be happy with what they get.”
In Wimbledon 2002:Goran Ivanisevic won $7,46,000, and Venus won $6,90,000.
At that point, Venus was the highest-paid female athlete in the world and she was ready to put her reputation and public image at stake for equal pay between men and women.
In 2005, WTA president Lary Scott sensed Venus’ discomfort and invited her to a policy meeting of all four grand slams just a day before the Wimbledon Finals. Venus showed up and said some lines that brought tears in eyes of even the most skeptical audience:
Venus said, “Close your eyes. Imagine you’re a little girl. You’re growing up. You practice as hard as you can, with girls, with boys. You have a dream. You fight, you work, you sacrifice to get to this stage. You work as hard as anyone you know. And then you get to this stage, and you’re told you’re not the same as a boy. Almost as good, but not quite the same. Think how devastating and demoralizing that could be.”
The speech made everyone’s eyes watery but the impact was not seen as the same year Federer won $1.13 million and Venus won $1.08 million. A few months after this speech it was agreed to reduce the gap further but not fully, this was not a monetary problem for the authorities but it was a problem of principle.
In the year 2006, Tim Philips the chairman of the AELTC, tried to justify the disparity by saying that the game of women was not as interesting as men, he also added that men play longer and women athletes are not totally athletes, woman’s tickets are lower priced and TV ratings for only men are higher than a woman.
Venus argued upon the bias and stereotypical thoughts of less stamina and athleticism in women. The tickets to women’s matches had been priced lower by Wimbledon authorities themselves decades ago, and if this was changed it could be proven that crowds can pay equal money to see the women play.
Venus now turned into a storm on this topic, she collaborated with UNESCO and the WTA, and ensured this thunder cracked at a global level and continued doing so till the PM of the labor party, MP Janet Anderson put up this motion in the parliament. Williams challenged PM Tony Blair on women receiving £30,000 less in prize money.
Finally, in 2007, Williams’ efforts paid off in Wimbledon when it was officially announced to eliminate this difference, and women and men will receive equal prize money. It was only in 2007 that men and women won equal prize money after 1880 when women started playing.
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