World-renowned tennis star Venus Williams is all about gender equality. She has faced gender discrimination in her career and does not want the same for the coming generations.
The professional tennis star voiced up against pay inequality on the international equal pay day marked on 15th March.
The 41-year-old Venus Williams stated, “The #PrivilegeTax movement is what we’ve coined as this real data that shows that women only make 82 cents for every dollar that men make and it’s a serious problem, I’m very passionate about it because this happened to me.”
Williams stated that she played her first grand slam before she turned 18 and it was a huge blow for her when she got to know that she will not be paid equal to the men competing in the same game.
She said the realization was a “hard blow” which she doesn’t want the new generation to witness or go through.
“I’m very excited to be partnering with many companies to close this gap, to raise awareness, to raise money at a grassroots level, and also partner with Credit Karma who has made this happen within their organization in the last few years,” Venus continued. “I want to make sure that this gap has been closed.”
Venus stated that by next generation of women, she addresses her 4-year-old niece Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. She said that her niece is a daughter of a wonder woman i.e. Serena Williams. By the time she is all set to enter the workforce, no matter the field, she should have an expectation to be treated equally on and off the court.
“I hope that by the time she enters the workforce in whichever capacity, hopefully as a tennis player, she will not have to experience that inequity,” she said. “I don’t want it to be 200 or 300 years before that gap closes. I want it to happen within my lifetime. I want it to happen in time for my niece so she can focus on being her best person, instead of having to worry about her gender.”
On the occasion of equal pay day, Venus Williams urged the women not to remain silent if they find themselves in a situation where their male colleagues get more salary for the same work and job. They need to speak up for their equal rights.
“You have to ask for your value,” she said. “Organizations need to do a deep dive to find any discrepancies in pay and managers need to understand their own gender bias in decision making and be educated on these topics. It’s something that doesn’t happen overnight and that’s why I’m talking about this today.”.
