When Venus Williams won her first major title at the singles event of the 2000 Wimbledon Championships, she was handed a cheque of $696,858. Then a day later, the men’s singles champion at the same tournament, Pete Sampras, was handed a cash prize of $717,721. A clear pay gap of $20,863! She always believed “In the eyes of the general public, the men’s and women’s games have the same value.” But why this disparity? After years of protests, in 2007(at Wimbledon), Venus Williams became the FIRST woman to collect an equal-sized champion’s cheque. What really forced her to stand in the fight for equal pay, though?
During the September 24th interview with Vivian Tu at the ‘Your Rich BFF’, Venus Williams shared the time when she first noticed the pay disparity in men’s and women’s tennis. She also spoke about how she felt so confident while speaking on this topic at a bigger stage. “I remember growing up that the prize was only equal at the US Open. The Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon were not equal. I remember the AO went to equal prize money, but then something happened where there were some tough financial times.”
She couldn’t remember exactly what happened since she was a kid at that time, but she recalled, “…Reading an article about how the women were disappointed because they went back to unequal prize money.” Venus Williams then revealed how surprised was she to see this, “…when it was time to cut, they cut the women. Can you imagine? So, that kind of world we were living in.”
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She felt during those days since she was just 10 years old she didn’t understand much but with time she understood that, “Actually not only it’s not equal but nobody even cares.” Was she ever worried about facing any consequences for her bold moves? “There was absolutely nothing to lose. We have already lost! So when you’re already down on your luck, you have nowhere else to go but up, right?” she replied. She has spent several years working to solve this major issue in the tennis world.
Venus Williams had a meeting with the Grand Slam committee in 2005 and while recalling one of such moments from her several attempts, she revealed, “At that point, I went into this room and I asked everyone to close their eyes. I said, ‘Now that your eyes are closed, you don’t know if that person next to you is a man or a woman, but everyone’s heart beats the same way. Would you want your daughter or your sister or your mother or your wife or a loved one that was a woman to be paid less?”
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“Then I left. I bounced. I had to go. I didn’t stay for the whole meeting,” Venus concluded. Demolishing the inequality in the racquet sport with an ace! Who really inspired her to speak against injustice, though?
Venus Williams’ inspiration for fighting against pay disparity came from a woman
In a Times magazine’s “I’m only a second class champion” essay, Venus Williams had once heavily criticized the All England Club for sending out a “wrong message” that the accomplishments of women were relatively less important than those of their male counterparts. It was mainly related to the pay gap between men and women in the tennis world. In her essay, she stated, “I believe that athletes, especially female athletes in the world’s leading sport for women, should serve as role models.” She added that through this essay, “The message I like to convey to women and girls across the globe is that there is no glass ceiling.”
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Venus Williams has always been a warrior, both on and off the court. Her efforts in bringing women’s tennis parallel to men’s are enormous! She gives full credit to her mother, Oracene Price, for instilling in her the need to speak out against injustice. During a previous interview, Williams admitted, “A lot of the times you can’t beat the truth. When you stand up for what’s right — that’s what my mom was all about. I learned that from her. I think that’s why I spoke out.”
Her mother is one of her biggest inspirations. According to Williams, it is her mother who has given them the lessons about how important it is, to tell the truth, and to live the truth. Oracene Price has always taught them that if “There is something wrong, you stand up for it.” And that’s how perhaps this fighter inside Venus Williams was born!