Venus Williams Wants to Change How Girls and Women Are Treated in Sports

When we think of the gender inequalities in sport, we often cite of the systemic issues—pay inequality, maternal rights, whether women should be as passionate on the court as their male counterparts. But what we don’t take into account is the impact of day-to-day interactions with coaches and peers, particularly at a young age, that could make someone leave athletics all together.

“Some of the stats are very sobering in what’s happening with girls in sports,” says sports phenomenon and EleVen founder Venus Williams. “There’s dropout discouragement that they’re facing due to body issues or judgment. We (haven’t) really had this conversation before.” Thus, the renowned tennis champion and entrepreneur has teamed up with Dove and Nike for the launch of “Body Confident Sport”—an online coaching tool created to help coaches foster positive self-esteem in girls globally.

According to findings by Dove and Nike, the number one reason teenage girls drop out of sports is due to low body confidence. In the U.S., 48 percent of girls dropping out were told they don’t have the right body for sports, and 56 percent were objectified or judged on their physical appearance. What’s more, 69 percent of girls shared that if they were more body confident, they would’ve stayed in the sport for longer. Two years in the making, “Body Confident Sport” looks to address these issues in partnership with the program Centre for Appearance Research (CAR), the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport—and, of course, Williams. 

For Williams, helping young girls thrive in sports is a two-fold approach. “A lot of times coaches or people in better positions when they’re working with girls can be critical about girls’ bodies even if they don’t mean it in that way,” she says. “With education, they’re able to understand what the impact of that is and how it affects girls, how it affects their confidence, how it affects their health, and how it affects their ability to stay in the sport.” 

The second prong, is getting girls involved at a young age. She hopes everyone gets to experience being an athlete, emphasizing that being an athlete has taught her some of life’s greatest lessons. “It’s given me everything—confidence, learning how to win or lose, learning how to deal with myself, learning how to be honest with myself, learning how to give myself credit when I need to and not be hard on you too hard on yourself.”