Billie Jean King Congressional Gold Medal Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 51st anniversary of the Battle of the Sexes, the female versus male tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, played on September 20, 1973.
Mr. Speaker, 90 million people in the world tuned in to watch as King made history and defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in three straight sets: 6-4, 6-3, and 6-3.
It was a first, it was groundbreaking, and it forever changed the sport of tennis and brought the issue of women's equality to the forefront of our Nation.
Billie Jean King has inspired generations of American women. She lived the dream for her generation and the women who came before her, who lived during a time when they were restricted from reaching their full potential.
She has empowered young women with the road she paved and the ceiling that she broke. My generation was the first to really benefit from the positive changes made because of her.
I can say that she certainly inspired me to challenge and defeat a man for this seat in the House of Representatives.
To really put in perspective just how courageous and trailblazing Billie Jean King's actions were, one needs to know what women endured at the time.
In 1973: Women could not get their own credit card or open a bank account without their husband or a male cosigner.
They could not attend a U.S. military service academy.
In some States, they couldn't even serve on a jury.
There were no protections against sexual harassment in the workplace. They could get fired just for being pregnant, and there was no access to birth control.
Women were paid 50 percent less than men, and the sport of tennis was no different. In fact, it was worse. In 1970, Billie Jean and eight other female players created their own tennis circuit to protest men receiving 12 to 1 prize money at an upcoming tournament.
In 1972, when Billie Jean won the U.S. Open singles title and received $10,000 in prize money while the male winner was awarded $25,000, she used her platform to further champion the issue of equal prize money and threatened to boycott the U.S. Open unless the disparity was addressed.
She founded the Women's Tennis Association, and she put her reputation, her tennis career, and her title on the line for gender equality, and she never wavered.
Her courage, resolve, and determination pushed the U.S. Tennis Association to make the 1973 U.S. Open the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors.
Billie Jean is also no stranger to the Halls of Congress. She came to Washington to advocate for and testify in support of Title IX, signed by President Nixon in 1972, that prohibited sex discrimination in all federally funded school activities.
Her achievements, both on and off the court, earned Billie Jean King accolades and honors. She became the first female athlete to be named a Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated.
In 1975, Seventeen Magazine readers named Billie Jean the most admired woman in the world. In 1976, she was Time Magazine's Woman of the Year. In 1990, Life magazine named her one of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th century.
She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2006, the U.S. Tennis Association Tennis Center in my city, New York City, home of the U.S. Open, was renamed in her honor.
In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She even has her own song by Elton John in tribute to her 1974 tennis team, Philadelphia Freedoms.
As a Representative of Staten Island, New York, where the sport of tennis was first brought and played by Mary Ewing Outerbridge 150 years ago and where the first national tennis tournament was played in 1880, it gives me great pride to stand before you and to join Representative Fitzpatrick and my colleagues in honoring the woman who advanced the sport and achieved equal prize money for herself and all the women who followed.
Mr. Speaker, while Congress has awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to prolific male athletes in the past, this body has never awarded a female athlete the highest civilian honor.
Today, we seek to change that and award it to the one woman who advocated, fought, and blazed the trail for equality in sports and won 129 singles titles and 39 Grand Slam titles along the way, Billie Jean King.
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