Saatchi’s sexism row suggests feminists can’t handle debate

Forget Pimm’s, sunburn and rain abandoned picnics. What really makes summer is a heap of outrage directed at an old white man for saying something feminists think is beyond the pale. Last year it was Sir Tim Hunt and his quip about the problem of women in labs. This time it is Kevin Roberts, chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi, who has suggested gender bias is not an issue in the advertising industry. For this crime against feminism, Roberts has been suspended and will spend this summer in his garden rather than in the office.

Unpicking the obligatory social media bluster about ‘misogyny’ and ‘the patriarchy’ to work out where exactly Roberts went wrong is not easy. His sin, it seems, was to claim that there are loads of talented women working in advertising but, when they are offered the top jobs, some of them decide they have other priorities and would rather not, thank you very much.