I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: camila pinheiro poster for 2023 us open tennis tourney

  • Pressure is a Privilege – Billie Jean King

    Pressure is a Privilege – Billie Jean King


    “The celebration of a major milestone merits its own memorable imagery, and the 2023 US Open will feature both, thanks to the striking design of this year’s theme art. Designed by Camila Pinheiro, a 40-year-old illustrator and mother of two from São Paulo, Brazil, this year’s theme art is an eye-catching portrait of a 1973-era Billie Jean King in front of a bright and bold New York skyline, which will be featured in a variety of colorways. Pinheiro is the first woman to design the US Open’s theme art in a decade, and she says that the final product encapsulates both the perennial spirit of the US Open, and all that’s historic about this year’s edition, which will celebrate 50 years since King and her peers first earned the same prize money as their male counterparts at the event.”

    Victoria Chiesa – US Open Insider Newsletter, March, 2023

    On Monday, August 28, 2023 the opening night session of the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York City began with high drama on Arthur Ashe Stadium of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as the #6 seed nineteen-year-old American player Coco Gauff faced qualifier thirty-five-year-old German player Laura Siegemund in a battle that lasted almost three hours. Holy moly. These women came to play not only with their blazing rackets but also with their feisty words to the chair umpire about Siegemund’s delay-of-game tactics which continued to get on the last nerve of Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert who encouraged Coco to badger the umpire to call time violations whenever her opponent served. Luckily, Gauff prevailed in a seesaw third set, but the traditional handshake at the end of the match was as frosty as a Wendy’s chocolate frozen drink. Note to Coach Gilbert: try not to be a distraction to Team Coco as she moves on to round 2.

    A shocking upset during the day session of day one on the women’s side was the loss by #8 seed Maria Sakkari in straight sets to world #71 player Rebeka Masarova from Spain, a loss Sakkari seemed to blame in part for the odor of weed on Court 17. Wow. Come on, tennis fans. Try gummies – no odor – same high.

    Day One on the men’s side saw #4 seed Holger Rune sent home in the first round with another upset loss to unseeded Spanish player Roberto Carballes Baena on Court 5. No one mentioned weed odor, but Rune’s defeat did smell a little. He was allegedly upset by his assignment to an outer court instead of one of the stadium courts since he was a #4 seed in the tournament. Come on, Holger. Your 20-year-old immaturity is showing; focus on your game…wherever and whenever you play, or we will send Brad Gilbert to sit in your player’s box.

    Former First Lady Michelle Obama received the most electrifying ovation of Monday night on Ashe Stadium as she led the celebration honoring tennis icon Billie Jean King who was the ultimate pioneer for equal prize money 50 years ago. Come on, Michelle – please run for President.

    American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles led the crowd in a “Brave” musical tribute to BJK.

    Innocence, your history of silence
    Won’t do you any good
    Did you think it would?
    Let your words be anything but empty
    Why don’t you tell them the truth?

    Say what you wanna say
    And let the words fall out
    Honestly I wanna see you be brave

    Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out

    Honestly I wanna see you be Brave

    Billie Jean King, the tennis world salutes you for being brave in 1973, and the rest of the world salutes you for your ongoing advocacy of women’s rights for the past 50 years. Come on, Billie Jean, keep speaking truth to power. You have taught us the powerful lesson that pressure is a privilege both on and off the courts.

  • Equal Pay Day 2023

    Equal Pay Day 2023


    AAUW Equal Pay Calendar

    2023 Equal Pay Days

    • Equal Pay Day—representing all women—is March 14. Women working full-time, year-round are paid 84 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. 
    • LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day is June 15. Without enough data to make calculations, this day raises awareness about the wage gap experienced by LGBTQIA+ folks. 
    • Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is July 27. Black women working full-time, year-round are paid 67 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 64 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Moms’ Equal Pay Day is August 15. Moms working full-time, year-round are paid 74 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 62 cents for every dollar paid to dads. 
    • Latina’s Equal Pay Day is October 5. Latinas women working full-time, year-round
    • are paid 57 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 54 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Native Women’s Equal Pay Day is November 30. Native women working full-time, year-round are paid 57 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 51 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day is TBD. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women working full-time, year-round are paid 92 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men.

    Thanks so much to the American Association of University Women for the above images and information they provided on this significant component of Women’s History Month in 2023.

    And thanks to Brazilian illustrator Camila Pinheiro for designing the 2023 US Open Tennis Tournament poster celebrating 50 years of equal prize money for men and women, featuring one of the leaders associated with that seismic achievement in 1973: Billie Jean King. A mere twenty-eight years later the Australian Open awarded equal prize money for men and women beginning in 2001, another six years passed before Wimbledon followed suit in February, 2007; Roland-Garros quickly followed Wimbledon in March, 2007 – thirty-four years after the US Open adopted the equal prize money policy for women and men in the sport all four Majors participated in the policy that became the first Grand Slam of pay equity for all players.

    “UnEqual” pay was the powder keg that ignited my activism in the women’s movement of the 1970s. From a nontraditional career for women in the accounting profession that began in 1967 with the shocking discovery that my compensation of $650 monthly at the Houston office of Arthur Andersen & Co., one of the most prestigious international accounting firms at the time, was $250 less than a work buddy making $900 a month for the same job. Only difference according to the partner in charge of personnel at the firm when I confronted him: my friend was a guy who might have a family to support one day. The risk for me, according to Mr. Terrell, was the need for maternity leave.

    I wasn’t bold enough at the time to tell him why that was an unlikely scenario; I was, however, angry enough to leave the firm. This was my first job in the real world following graduation from the University of Texas at Austin, my first personal introduction to discrimination by men in power who had no respect for women in the workplaces they controlled, my first feelings of being lesser than despite high academic achievements and even higher work ethics. At twenty-two years of age, I was born again – this time as an activist for equal pay.

    **********************

    Slava Ukraini. For the women.