Serena Williams does not expect gender pay gap to reduce anytime soon
Tuesday 27 September 2016 15:47, UK
Serena Williams is optimistic sportswomen can close the pay gap on their male counterparts, but expects real progress to be made once her own career is over.
Williams is the highest paid sportswoman on the planet but her annual earnings of £6.7m pale in comparison to the £42.2m earned by Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo last year, according to Forbes.
"I think maybe there will be a day when it will close," the 22-time Grand Slam winner told Sky Sports News HQ.
"It definitely doesn't irritate me though because I don't play for money, I play for the love. When I was growing up I never thought about making any money - I just wanted to win Grand Slams.
"I hope that maybe someday some amazing female athlete can close that gap and I think it will get there, maybe not in my generation but maybe the next one."
Women on Boards managing director Fiona Hathorn believes the gender pay gap will close as investment in women's sport increases.
"A lot of people view the gender pay gap as a result of the commercialisation of sport," Hathorn told Tuesday's Sportswomen show on Sky Sports News HQ.
"They think people don't want to watch women play sport but I know they do.
"If you think of the number of eyes that watched the GB hockey team [win gold at the Rio Olympics], it was a lot. Look at what FIFA achieved at the last Women's World Cup - something like 750m people watched it, so we know people will watch it.
"What we now need to do is get investment into women's sport and put on more commercial games. If that happens the gender pay gap will close but I think it is going to take a very long time."
