Venus Williams on Working to Close Pay Gap: 'Very Important Role That I Never Thought I'd Play'

Venus Williams is marking Women's History Month by continuing to fight for equal pay.

The tennis legend, 41, appeared on CBS Mornings Wednesday to chat about her personal efforts to close the gender pay gap, specifically her work leading the Privilege Tax initiative.

The initiative gives customers the option to donate $1 to help close the gap when they buy items from participating companies, including EleVen, Williams' own clothing brand. All of the proceeds raised by the initiative go toward Girls Inc., a nonprofit focused on creating more opportunities for girls and young women.

While chatting with CBS Mornings host Gayle King, Williams said she "came into inequality at the young age of 16," calling her first Grand Slam "a rude awakening."

"I don't want any other young women to have to face that," she said. "Women are earning 82 cents to the dollar that men are earning. If you're a minority, if you're living out of the country, it gets even worse."

Williams added, "It's important to call attention to this, that people know this, because women not only need equal opportunity, but it gives them opportunity to grow and become strong and to help their families."

The tennis champion made history in 2006 as the first woman to receive the same prize money at Wimbledon as the men's champion, Roger Federer. Looking back, she said, "so many amazing things have happened since that time," including the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team finally recently securing an equal pay victory.

Williams then mentioned her Privilege Tax initiative, expressing gratitude for the multiple companies she is partnering with, before insisting, "there's got to be more organizations. People do want to do this, but it takes time. It doesn't happen overnight."

Williams said that she knows firsthand that the pay gap she is working to close is larger for women of color.

"That gap widens when you're a Black woman, a woman of minority," she said. "I'm just very happy that as an African American woman that I can speak to this and make this known. It's a very important role that I never thought I'd play. I just wanted to win Wimbledon! I got there, it wasn't equal, and it's just led me to this place where I'm able to do more than I ever could have thought I could do."

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Williams and her sister, Serena Williams, recently shared their childhood journey in King Richard, a biopic that is nominated for Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars.

When King asked Venus who she is rooting for to snag Best Actor at Oscars, she laughed before saying, "Maybe Will Smith?"

Smith is nominated for Best Actor for his role as Richard, Venus and Serena's father, and has already won several acting awards this season.

"I'm so happy to call Will not only the person who's memorialized my family story, but also my friend," Venus said. "He just portrayed my dad so closely … there were moments where we were listening to the livestream or watching the livestream being filmed, and I would hear my dad's voice and it gave me goosebumps, how close he got to my father."

She added, "And of course, we can't forget Aunjanue [Ellis] and how she played my mom. She got it so right! Then the girls who learned to play tennis. That's not easy to do. They learned, and they made it realistic, and I'm so excited we can share this moment at the Oscars."