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Speaking on an online panel event titled #WeKeepPlaying
hosted by King's Women's Sports Foundation and Yahoo Sports, the
American said she hoped to provide comfort and encouragement to
the thousands who tuned in to view it.
"But I also want them to think about the future as well," said
King, the 12-time Grand Slam champion who famously waged a
decades-long battle for equal pay in professional tennis.
King said her early goals for women's tennis were to make sure
all girls would have a place to compete, that women would be
valued more for their accomplishments than their looks, and to
ensure female athletes earned enough to make a living.
"Many of these athletes still do not have the dreams and the
opportunities that they deserve," she said.
While strides have been made toward pay equality in tennis,
women's ice hockey still has a long way to go, said Kendall
Coyne Schofield, a forward for the United States women's
national team.
"Right now the professional landscape of women's hockey is a
disaster," said Coyne Schofield, an Olympic gold medalist who
played for NWHL's Minnesota Whitecaps.
"Until we can show young girls the dream of growing up to be a
professional athlete who can make a living doing it, our goal
has not been met," she said.
The formation last year of the Professional Women's Hockey
Players Association is a good step that will help the players
speak with one voice as they fight for a sustainable
professional women's league that pays living wages, she said.
U.S. national team soccer midfielder Carli Lloyd said her World
Cup-winning squad's ongoing lawsuit against their federation
over allegations of gender discrimination and lower wages is
already having a positive ripple effect.
"Obviously we've been very successful over the years on the
field but more importantly what we're doing off the field has
been so powerful," she said.
"We are empowering so many other women across the globe to fight
to make things better.
She said some international players are pushing to get better
collective bargaining agreements and are starting to see more
investment in the women's game.
"When you hear about that investment, you are seeing the product
on the field," she said.
"So we need to continue to do that for women's soccer."
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel
Wallis)
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