The British have allowed the French a rare advantage. Perhaps realizing this, Wimbledon has followed up Roland Garros’s recent gesture of levelling the playing field for the sexes. As in the other major open tennis championships played in Australia, the United States of America and France, women at Wimbledon will now receive the same prize money as men. It has taken much prodding — over the years, from the women’s professional tennis establishment, and recently from Britain’s ministry of culture as well — to make the Wimbledon organizers undergo this change of heart. But doubts remain, particularly in the minds of a large section of the viewing public, about the judiciousness of the decision. Wimbledon itself had justified its discriminatory policy on the basis of the unequal number of hours played by male and female players. Since there has been no change in the rules of the game, women are being seen to take an unfair advantage of the limited length of their skirts.

It is surprising that the inegalitarian ways of the sports establishment should be supported by such crude logic. The prize money is a valuation of the talent, skill and effort put in by the competing sportsmen. If the amount differs on the basis of gender, it automatically implies that the value attached to the abilities of the female players is much less than that put on the same abilities in males. This is sexism at its worst. The unequal amounts given out as prize money to Steffi Graff and Andre Agassi pre-supposed that the former was an inferior player than the latter. Agassi himself would most vehemently contest that claim.

The assumed difference in physical stamina forms the basis of the limited hours of play set down for women. But their commitment, efforts or skill cannot be doubted for a rule that is not of their own making. As Kim Clijsters put it, women work as hard as men for the trophy. Besides, it would be an economic fallacy to assume that long hours of play alone necessarily assures quality. Unfortunately, the world over, this misconception has severely compromised the professional sphere for women. The European Court of Justice has even ruled that employers are justified in paying some employees more for a longer period of service.

Apart from their professionalism, there is a lot women have brought to tennis. The glamour they have added to the sport is responsible in a major way for the media attention it gets. In fact, where entertainment value is considered, women beat the men hands down. The viewership for their matches and their television ratings are several notches higher than that of the men. And sometimes, notwithstanding the difference in prize money, they earn many times more than the male competitors. In the showbiz that tennis has become, women are clearly at an advantage. It is only fair that they get their rightful share.