Marriage of beauty and athleticism

Jane Austen is perhaps one of the most universally recognised names in literature, yet when her books were originally published in the 18th century, the cover read:

“Published by a lady”.

Even then in a male dominated world, regardless of the recognition of superb writing, it was impossible for society to give the woman her due by printing her name.

Have we come very far? Not really!

The nadir was Raymond Moore’s comments on women tennis players:

“If I was a lady player I’d go right down on my knees and thank god that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried this sport”

He neglected to mention that it was in fact mothers who had carried the two boys for at least the first 9 months of their lives.

Is this what we have been reduced to in our world?

Perhaps Honore de Balzac was correct when he said

“Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact”

From the time of Austen and previously, women have been struggling to gain equality and recognition for what they have achieved.

Names like Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Marie Curie, and Cleopatra are all names to conjure with and that is only scratching the surface. Even the L.B.D. (little black dress) that we all adore so much came from the genius of Coco Chanel.

The suffrage movement that fought so hard to get women recognised might as well not have bothered when you read the above stories. The glass ceiling that exists in the business world exists in sport just as much.

I’m as much to blame as the …

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