On 50th Anniversary of Billie Jean King's 'Battle of the Sexes' Win, a Push to Honor Her in Congress
In the fight for equality on the playing field and elsewhere, Billie Jean King's triumph in the "Battle of the Sexes" was a turning point.
King made progress toward being the first female individual athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal on the 50th anniversary of that match versus Bobby Riggs, which is still the most-watched tennis match in history.
A bill honoring King, a tennis Hall of Famer and activist who helped to establish the women's pro tour, equal prize money for men and women, and Title IX, was introduced by three U.S. senators on Wednesday.
“She’s both a role model for women and girls everywhere, but she’s also a battle-tested warrior for women’s rights and equality,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, one of the bill's leaders in the Senate along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
The WTA Tour and the U.S. Open's 50th anniversaries of being the first tournaments to provide equal prize money to its men's and women's champions have already been commemorated by King this year. She challenged Riggs, the former No. 1 men's player who boasted he could defeat any women's player, on September 20, 1973.
An estimated 90 million people watched King's 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory at the Houston Astrodome. King was aware of the potential harm that could result from those viewers seeing a man who was then 55 beat a top woman.
“This match was about much more than tennis. It was about social change,” King wrote Tuesday on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
One of the reasons Gillibrand thinks King should receive the gold medal given by Congress in appreciation of his exceptional accomplishments and contributions to society is because of this. Athletes like golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, and Arnold Palmer as well as baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente have all received it in the past.
“I think it’s important for women and girls to know that the playing field has not been level for a very long time, but that there are champions and advocates who have been fighting on their behalf for generations to get that playing field leveled,” Gillibrand said.
She is confident that the companion bill, which is being led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey who currently has more than 80 cosponsors, will garner the two-thirds support required in the Senate and the same majority in the House of Representatives.
Prior to the year's end, Gillibrand hopes to complete it.
“We still have never had a woman president, we have very few women governors, we still only have 20% of women in Congress,” she said. “So we have a long way to go, but champions like Billie Jean give us hope that through fighting, through effort, through advocacy, we can reach these milestones of equality.”
References
MAHONEY, B. (2023, September 20). On 50th anniversary of Billie Jean King's 'Battle of the Sexes' win, a push to honor her in Congress. AP News. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://apnews.com/article/king-battle-of-sexes-congressional-award-7a896a2b523557b5f97054f9a0f81a67
New Delhi Times. (2023, September 21). On 50th anniversary of Billie Jean King’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’ win, a push to honor her in Congress. New Delhi Times. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.newdelhitimes.com/on-50th-anniversary-of-billie-jean-kings-battle-of-the-sexes-win-a-push-to-honor-her-in-congress/
U.S. News. (2023, September 20). On 50th Anniversary of Billie Jean King's 'Battle of the Sexes' Win, a Push to Honor Her in Congress. USNews.com. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2023-09-20/on-50th-anniversary-of-billie-jean-kings-battle-of-the-sexes-win-a-push-to-honor-her-in-congress