Venus Williams Makes Hard-Hitting Points In Her Essay On Gender Equality

Tennis star Venus Williams pens down an essay addressing gender equality and sexism in sports and otherwise.

The five-time Wimbledon champion, who has been advocating in favour of equality, recollected the instances from her life when she was "struck by the inequality".

However, Williams became the first female tennis player to receive the same amount of prize money as her male counterparts in the 2007 Wimbledon tournament. A noticeable change has been bridging the gap as now men and women at the majors and combined events are awarded equal prize money in tennis. 

Venus’ sister Serena Williams, who has 23 Grand Slam singles titles to her name, has often spoken about sexism and racism openly. The former is known to have revolutionized women’s tennis over the years. 

In her moving letter published by British Vogue, Venus Williams talks about her fight for global pay parity. She cites examples from her experience as a sportswoman, a career still not considered a woman's long suit.

Here are 7 quotes from Venus Williams letter about equality and sexism:

"I firmly believe that sport mirrors life and life mirrors sport. The lack of equality and equal opportunities in tennis is a symptom of the obstacles women face around the world."

"Closing the economic gender gap requires action at a national and international level as well as corporate."

"We owe it to our daughters and granddaughters to ensure closing the gap doesn’t take that long."

"...there’s the urgent need for transparency; if women don’t know they aren’t being paid fairly, how can they do anything about it?"

"None of these things are possible without men being part of the solution."

"Men need to understand gender equality is about equal opportunities for women rather than men relinquishing power."

"When women are doing well, the family does well and so does the economy — we all win."