Tennis champion Serena Williams has partnered with Secret Deodorant as their latest brand ambassador to promote gender equality in sports.
Williams and Secret will be launching a study that examines gender bias in sports by surveying female athletes in high school, college, and at the professional level.
After the study is conducted, Secret will donate $1 million to organizations that help to address gender inequality in sports. Williams will also appear in ads for Secret’s “All Strength No Sweat” campaign next month.
From the United States Women’s National Team’s (USWNT) fight for equal pay to her struggles as a female athlete dealing with gender bias, Williams believes it is important to use her platform to fight for equality for women in sports.
“Sports changed my life and I feel compelled to continue giving back to ensure a brighter future for partnership closely to further the fight for gender equality for all athletes,” she said in a statement to AdAge.
Williams, who has 23 Grand Slam titles and four Olympic gold medals, is shedding a light on gender inequality to help move the needle and create a more equal world. She said her calls for equality will not stop anytime soon.
“I use my voice because I know if I keep talking, someone is going to eventually hear,” she told Glamour. “Now that I have a daughter, it’s even more important. You just have to keep using your voice to change it for the next person.”
Williams announced that she is working specifically with Secret because they have taken “real action” to support and uplift women in sports.
This partnership is just one of Secret’s latest efforts to expand gender equality in sports. The deodorant company donated $529,000 to the USWNT Player’s Association to help close the gender pay gap in soccer in July. They paid for more than 9,000 tickets to the National Women’s Soccer League games to boost attendance. Secret also made gender equality in sports and equal pay the focus of their marketing campaign last year.
“The key reason we wanted to sign Serena is that she has the insight into equality and bias on a much deeper level because of the career that she’s had,” Secret’s Associate Brand Director Sarah Saunders said in a statement to AdAge on Tuesday. “We really want to understand things from the women themselves who are living it.”