Equality matters!

I have long been a fan of Rafa Nadal. When he first burst onto the scene as a very young player I used to have my first year A-Level students research him and give us a potted biography, in Spanish of course. All these years on, one of my ex-students still raves about Rafa, even though she is now a married woman and mother of a small baby.

I remember him winning Wimbledon for the first time and climbing over the stands to reach the box where King Juan Carlos was watching. The king hugged him delightedly.

Rafa is in the news again: he won an incredible 11th French Open title at Roland Garros on Sunday. But it’s not just that; he is also in the news for his opinions. Apparently he has said that he sees no reason why female tennis players should be paid and win prizes on a par with those won by male tennis players. Oops!

"It’s a comparison we shouldn’t even make,” he said. “Female models earn more than male models and nobody says anything. Why? Because they have a larger following. In tennis too, who gathers a larger audience earns more.”

Oh dear! Not good, Rafa!

So there’s that sexism in sport. And then there is ageism.

A friend of mine posted this comment:-

 “More World Cup commentary trends...

Listen out for the casual ageism from all media observers on the game: any player over the age of, say, 32 is not, therefore, someone who brings vital experience, balance and know-how to a team, but is instead a superannuated tactical risk seemingly in imminent danger of cardio-vascular failure.” 

Well, Rafa Nadal is round about 32. Tennis players seem to last longer than football players but he needs to be careful!

Getting back to the feminist-ranting bit, the UK Government announced its support, its full support, for a new bill making upskirting a sexual offence. Upskirting is when a bloke uses his mobile phone to take photos up a woman’s skirt, without her permission of course.

Imagine if you were on a bus or a train or whatever means of public transport and a bloke lay down on the floor and looked up your skirt! Well, this is the same but done with a mobile phone.

Imagine anyone thinking it was an acceptable thing to do! A bit more sly than going round taking photos of cleavages but just as grotty, or maybe more so.

The new bill had been part of the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill, following a campaign by one Gina Martin. I think she tried unsuccessfully to take someone to court for upskirting and so began campaigning.

The bill was going along nicely until a Conservative, Sir Christopher Chope, shouted “object” when the title of the bill was read out.this means that its progress has been halted.

This Sir Christopher Chope is 71, surely too old to be going round taking photos of that nature, the dirty old man!

Maybe he just does not understand what the fuss is about.

But then again, maybe he is just against equality. It seems he has form.

• In 2013 he voted against making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste. 
• In 2016 he voted against the publication of a gender equality strategy to,improve the position of women.  
• He was absent from a vote on the Human Rights Act in 1998, but in 2016 he voted in favour of repealing it. 
• He has consistently voted against expanding the rights of gay people, and, of course, against same sex marriage. 
• He voted for the war in Iraq, against a hunting ban or hunting restrictions, for badger culling and against measures to help prevent climate change. 

 You get the picture. I bet he also voted for Brexit!