Women to receive equal pay at Wimbledon

Asad Raza wrote a very interesting essay about compensation for women at Wimbledon here last year. Now, he has pointed me to this news item by Ola Galal of Reuters:

TennisWimbledon will pay women and men equal prize money for the first time at this year’s grasscourt grand slam, All England Club chairman Tim Phillips said on Thursday.

The tournament broke with its tradition to join the Australian and U.S. Opens in paying equal prize money across the board in all events and in all stages of competition.

“This year the committee decided unanimously that the time was right to move to equal prize money and bring to a close a long progression,” Phillips told a news conference.

Prize money for the 2007 Championships will be announced in April.

Wimbledon, which dates back to 1877, went “open” in 1968 but had been criticised since then for maintaining a discrepancy in the prize money offered to its male and female competitors.

More here.