Inspired By Her Daughter, Serena Williams Joins the Fight Against Domestic Violence
Super mom Serena Williams joins the crusade to stop domestic violence.
According to the Tennis champ, her passion is driven by her wanting to be a strong role model for her 9-month-old daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. and women suffering from not only domestic and financial violence.
The 36-year-old new mother joined forces with Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse initiative where she hopes she can speak up for others that are not able to do so, PEOPLE reports.
The Purple Purse initiative organised by the Allstate Foundation is aimed at bringing financial abuse out of the shadows and using financial empowerment to break the cycle of domestic violence on women.
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At an event held recently for the initiative, the celebrity said,
“These women probably can’t use their voice so it’s important for them to know that there are people out there that are using their voice and letting them know that there is a place, that we can do something about it.”
As stated by Allstate, one in four women will experience domestic violence at some point in their lives, and 99 percent of cases being financial abuse. The startling statistics hits Williams hard.
“Having a daughter means that she’s one in four. Hopefully, those stats don’t go up by the time she’s dating and meeting people, but they can if you don’t make people aware of it.
“Domestic abuse is a subject that people are not really comfortable talking about, but sometimes talking about the uncomfortable is what we have to do,” Williams said.
“We’re doing that now with Me Too, with Times Up, and I feel like we’re making those steps. We want to make this a movement.”
READ ALSO: Motivational Speaker, Rhoda Olajumoke on How to Curb Domestic Violence
Williams is a known advocate for equal pay and women’s rights in the sports arena. She has been known to not keep quiet and sit on the sidelines and reminds women that their voice is important if there are going to be changes made.
Her greatest words of advice she could give to her daughter and other women is, “always speak up, and from the first day. If you keep letting it go on, the situation gets worse and worse until you’re just completely downtrodden.”
As a mother of a daughter, Williams’ wish is that young boys are educated from a young age on what is acceptable and unacceptable. She also believes that men need to join the crusade and become more supportive of women.
As an ambassador for the organization, Williams ended by saying, “It’s a human rights issue. We should just want to be better humans.”
READ ALSO: “Society Needs to Take Action” | Read Omoye’s Domestic Violence Experience
Every year, the Allstate Foundation launched an annual Purple Purse that you can win by donating $10 towards empowering women to break free from an abusive relationship through financial education, job training and readiness, and small business programs for survivors.
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