Serena Shuts Up Russian Women’s Tennis Exec

1. Serena Williams spared nothing in her condemnation of Russian tennis president Shamil Tarpischev, calling his reference to her and sister Venus as the “Williams brothers” “insensitive, sexist and racist”. Tarpischev made the comment on a late night television talk show.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has fined Tarpischev — who apologized but stated that the response was an overreaction — $25,000 and banned him from having any involvement with the women’s tour for one year.

Serena Williams responded: “I think the WTA did a great job of taking initiative and taking immediate action to his comments. I thought they were very insensitive and extremely sexist as well as racist at the same time.”

WTA chief executive Stacy Allaster said that the comments were “insulting, demeaning and have absolutely no place in our sport.”

Facebook & Google Help Women Control Fertility

2. Egg-freezing became a hot topic last week, after Facebook and Apple announced that they will cover the cost of egg-freezing treatments in an amount up to $20,000 for women who want to delay having children.

The earlier a woman undergoes egg freezing treatments, the more likely is she to be successful at harvesting fertile eggs. Writes Forbes:

In highly-competitive and thriving Silicon Valley in particular, young women are steadily becoming a larger part of the workforce and are choosing to dedicate their young adulthood to getting ahead in their careers. One cited reason for America’s gender pay gap is that women fall behind men in their careers when they take time off to raise children. This often happens during a point in their lives when their earning potential is about to climb much higher, which puts women at a disadvantage when they re-enter the workforce. Facebook and Apple, then, are providing an opportunity for women have more choices for family planning and therefore rise up more easily within company ranks.

Martha Inks A Deal With Meredith

3. Wall Street showed Martha Stewart some love last week after the after her embattled Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia closed a 10-year licensing deal with Meredith Corp, who will assume most of its publishing properties.