Equal Pay at Wimbledon

Game, set, and match for equal pay at Wimbledon (via Yahoo! News and AP):

After years of holding out against equal prize money, Wimbledon bowed to public pressure Thursday and agreed to pay women players as much as the men at the world's most prestigious tennis tournament.

The All England Club announced at a news conference that it had decided to fall into line with other Grand Slam events and offer equal pay through all rounds at this year's tournament.

"Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time," club chairman Tim Phillips said. "We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognizes the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon.

**********************************************************************
The unequal pay policy goes back 123 years. When the women started playing at Wimbledon in 1884, the female champion received a silver flower basket worth 20 guineas, while the men's winner got a gold prize worth 30 guineas.

Bravo All England Club for getting this right!  And so long silver flower basket.

And although this tennis pay example may just involve compensation for highly-compensated independent contractors, hopefully this high profile instance of equal pay will spur others in the employment world to break down existing glass ceilings once and for all.

PS