Tennis champion and 23-times grand slam winner Serena Williams has issued an essay calling for black women to demand equal pay.
The essay, published by Fortune, marked yesterday’s Black Women Equal Pay Day, and exposes the disparity between what black women get paid in comparison to their white male counterparts and their white female counterparts. She highlights that for every dollar earned by men in the United States, black women earn just 63 cents, and that black women earn 17 percent less than white women. She points out that ‘women of colour have to work – on average – eight months longer to earn the same as their male counterparts do in one year.’
Williams has been subjected to racist and sexist abuse throughout her career; just last month former tennis champion John McEnroe said that if Serena played on the men’s tour she would rank 700th. ‘I have been treated unfairly,’ she writes. ‘I’ve been disrespected by my male colleagues and – in the most painful times – I’ve been the subject of racist remarks on and off the tennis court.’
Although Williams counts herself lucky, she pressed that there are many other black women that are struggling because they are not supported and do not have a voice. She cites tennis as being an arena where she is spared of financial disparity. ‘I had talent, I worked like crazy and I was lucky enough to break through. But today isn’t about me,’ she says. ‘It’s about the 24 million black women in America. If I never picked up a tennis racket, I would be one of them; that is never lost on me.’
For Williams, the systematic oppression of black women will not be changed by recognition alone. ‘[C]hanging the status quo will take dedicated action, legislation, employer recognition, and courage for employees to demand more,’ she writes.
She ends her essay by urging black women to ‘be fearless’ and speak up about equal pay.
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