Show Her the Money! All Four Grand Slam Events in Tennis Will Now Pay Men and Women Equally

In a world with all eyes on the glass ceiling, it is nice to hear of an organization taking it upon their own shoulders to change society if even by a little bit.

The French Open, a tennis tournament open to both men and women, and held for two weeks between mid-May and early June in Paris, France has announced they will be offering equal prize pay outs to both men and women contestants.

In the past Prize pay outs have been more for men who won the competition than women. Now with prizes being equaled and the French Open committee not wanting to cut the purse size for anyone involved, the total prize compensation has been raised to $20.34 million with $1.33 million going to each of the top winners for both men and women respectively. This sets an all-time record for the most money offered as a prize for a single competition in France.

The French Open is not the only tennis competition addressing issues of sex discrimination. Las month Wimbledon decided to also make the total winning compensation packages for the men and women winners equal. Wimbledon did not concede lightly though. Much debate has been raised on the subject and just last year the men's champion was issued prize monies totally $1.170 million while his female counterpart only won $1.117 million. Though Wimbledon has not released the amount of the equal compensation it has been said it will cost the association $1.1 million to ensure equal pay outs among the sexes.

The U.S. Open and the Australian Open, the remaining competitions of the four Grand Slam events, have both paid equal prize monies for years.

The inequality in pay has been going on for more than 123 years since women started playing tennis at Wimbledon."When you've got men and women playing the same tournament, it is ludicrous to have a difference in pay, "three-time champion John McEnroe said. "It would be setting an example to the rest of society in general to have equal prize money."