Women would like equal prize money at Wimbledon for the singles Championship...
... but they can't be trusted with really expensive things like yachts.
We're not trying to start a war here, neither are we in the mood to speak ill of the female sex. After all, some of the Londonist team come from that side of the gender divide. It's just that two pieces of news have clashed horribly in our already stretched intellects and we're stumped as to what conclusions we should draw from them. Reader, we will give you the stories and then open the floor to you.
Wimbledon has announced this year's Championship prize money and it has gone up by 4 per cent on last year's already generous amount. £655,000 is this year's top prize for The Gentlemen's Champion in singles. The Ladies Champion in singles can win £625,000. Last year's Ladies Champion Venus Williams expressed disappointment that women were yet again not being treated as equal to men - Wimbledon has never offered matching amounts for the male and female top prizes. "We want to be treated equally as the men," she said. "This is not just about women's tennis, but women all over the world."
Meanwhile, last weekend the extremely rich Mr Paul Compton took a break from his job as an analyst at Collins Stewart, the City stockbroking firm and went on a little trip on his fortnight-old £250,000 yacht with his female friend. Nearing Swanage, Mr Compton left the controls in the hands of his ladyfriend for no more than a few minutes... and she crashed it. Being mainly fibreglass, the yacht then "fell over and basically disintegrated." Mr Compton jumped to safety on to a lifeboat that arrived after frantic distress calls but his companion was less daring and had to be airlifted to out of danger. It is unconfirmed whether or not they were able to drive home as they intended as it is very likely Mr Compton's car keys were on board the sunken yacht. It is also unconfirmed as to whether the couple are speaking to one another.
So... should women get the same prize money as men at Wimbledon? Should they be obliged to win three out of five sets like men instead of two out of three as they do currently? Or is it fair to award them the same prize money but let them play at a level that is deemed appropriate to ladies? And on the yacht - was Mr Compton treating his female companion as an equal, expecting her to have the same skills and experience in seafaring as himself or... was he just asking for it?
Over to you.
