Serena Williams has set back the cause of women’s equality

Serena Williams has just set back the cause of women’s equality. Not by losing her cool during the final of the US Open: women are as entitled to temper tantrums as men are. No, it was her playing of the misogyny card that has potentially harmed the cause of women. It was the fact that no sooner had the umpire imposed penalties on her for her bad behaviour than she was crying ‘Sexism!’. Such a cynical use of feministic language to try to deflect attention from one’s own behaviour does nobody any favours — not Serena herself, and certainly not women more broadly.

Serena had a rough final. She ended up losing to Naomi Osaka, a relative newcomer at the age of 20, and the first person from Japan to win a Grand Slam title. It was a great achievement for Osaka but her victory was utterly overshadowed by Serena’s egocentric behaviour.