At Wimbledon this week, Billie Jean King discussed potential investment and tour stops for tennis in Saudi Arabia, saying "the only way people change is engagement."
In an interview with The National at WTA's 50th anniversary celebration during Wimbledon, Billie Jean King, tennis legend and board member of the group guiding the development of a new professional women's hockey league in North America, discussed engaging in conversations related to investments in sport with Saudi Arabia.
“There’s a lot of money, which is very important to keep having money to help the players, but also help run the WTA, run the ATP and all that," King told The National related to investment and operating tour stops in Saudi Arabia.
“I think the only way people change is engagement. If you don’t meet people and you don’t discuss and you don’t ask for new things to happen, they don’t. So it’s really important that we help the change to make things more equal for everyone. I’m huge on engagement.”
"I know the Sheikha in Doha was fantastic... She wanted to make Qatar the cultural center of the Middle East," continued King. "Now, I would never have known that unless I talked to her and engaged in what they're thinking. How are we going to change if we don't engage?"
King also spoke on her belief in the importance of girls, including in Saudi Arabia, seeing professional women playing sport.
“To see it, is to be it," said King. "So when we go to a country and play a tournament, just think, if you’re a little girl, or a parent, that they get to see these women being very successful and great athletes, and it helps change the hearts and minds of people and how they think....So you never know how when we go to other countries, how we’re going to affect them. You might only affect one person in the stands, but that person ends up being a leader of the country or a great athlete or a CEO or someone who changes the world. So you never know how you’re affecting others. But to see it, is to be it.”
King has been a steadfast supporter for gender equity and women's rights throughout her career. The Billie Jean King Enterprises website states, "Billie Jean was the first to stand up for women in sports. Few have fought more, and even fewer have won the battles for diversity, equity, and inclusion."
In 2022, Saudi Arabia set into law a male guardianship system. According to Human Rights Watch, "the law codifies discriminatory practices and includes provisions that facilitate domestic violence and sexual abuse in marriage."
The "Personal Status Law" also requires "women to obtain a male guardian’s permission to marry," married women are required under law "to obey their husbands" in a "reasonable manner," and the financial support a husband provides his wife is contingent on "obedience," and a woman can lose her right to support "if she refuses without a “legitimate excuse” to have sex with him, move to or live in the marital home, or travel with him."
It was the next in a long line of rules and actions against women in the nation, including the arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture of women's rights activists, according to Human Rights Watch.
While some amendments to the Personal Status Law, and changes to Saudi laws as they apply to women have been made, Rothna Begum, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch says, claiming progress as a reason to take Saudi funds is unjustifiable.
“Until Saudi women can champion their rights without fear and the law ensures women equal rights as men, Saudi officials’ talk of reform will ring hollow,” said Begum
“The foreign businesses and celebrities who take money from Saudi authorities should stop trying to justify their dealings by pointing to Saudi progress on women’s rights.”
In 2022, the PWHPA signed a letter of intent with Billie Jean King Enterprises and Mark Walter Group to move forward with planning for a second professional women's hockey league in North America. On June 29, the Mark Walter Group acquired the PHF, North America's lone professional women's hockey league. While the Mark Walter Group is the financial backing, board members, led by Los Angeles Dodgers president and part owner Stan Kasten and Billie Jean King Enterprises, will help guide the new league's formation and operations.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to advance women’s sports,” said King in a PHF press release. “I have no doubt that this league can capture the imagination of fans and a new generation of players. I want to thank Mark and Kimbra Walter for their vision and commitment to investing in women’s sports.”
Planning continues for the new proposed six team league which is aiming to launch in January 2024.