This season Emma Stone will transform into legendary tennis player Billie Jean King for her latest film ‘Battle Of The Sexes’ - and it’s guaranteed to give you a feminist sporting awakening.
For those uninitiated, in 1973 King co-founded the Women’s Tennis Association after becoming sick and tired of the disparity between prize money for men and women. At the age of 29, she’d recently won her fifth of her six Wimbledon singles titles.
In response, former tennis player Bobby Riggs, 55, - who famously won all three Wimbledon events (singles, doubles, mixed doubles) in 1939 - challenged her to a televised match, in an attempt to prove that no woman could beat him.
Well, King did just that, and the match (nicknamed ‘the battle of the sexes’) paved the way for women’s professional sport to be taken more seriously.
But we still have a long way to go before equality is achieved in the field. If you’re feeling inspired by the film, here are five causes to shout about.
