Equal Pay for Women Players at Wimbledon..?

I like watching tennis. I have always liked watching tennis from a young age and I even play the damn sport.

But….. well, it was reading the report that Tessa Jowell will call for the abolition of the pay differences between men and women players at Wimbledon. Players like Venus Williams have threatened to strike over it. This has been an ongoing issue for years. And it took Billie Jean King to thrash Bobbie Riggs at the infamous “Battle of the Sexes” match in 1973 for people just to take women’s tennis seriously. The argument to pay women less is that they don’t play as many sets as men. John McEnroe made the comment that women couldn’t compete at that same level. I think Martina Navratilova challenged him and he declined. I think we know who would have won!

On the one hand it is important to view women’s tennis on an equal basis to the men’s game. But…well, does anyone, regardless of their gender deserve, £655,000 (men’s prize money) for winning the tournament? These players are paid obscene amounts of money plus endorsements etc. Their response, similar to a L’Oreal shampoo advert, would be “cos I’m worth it”! But are they?

Tessa Jowell argues in her letter to the All England club’s chair that women’s game attracts equal levels of attention as the men’s game and this should be highlighted in them receiving the same winnings. She also includes issues around equal opportunities and so on.

This is all well and good but Tessa, come a bit closer, a bit more. Yes, that’ll do. This may hurt your ears a bit but….. What About Equal Pay For All Women!

Tessa, me old Blairite stooge, fight for equal pay for all women and not just for the glamorous sporting world who really don’t need you to fight their corner. What about ordinary women in ordinary jobs, eh?

Oh and give old Ruth K. a nudge from reading her Opus Dei tracts so she too can get off her backside and do something constructive for women.