Coup Droit wrote:

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And congrats to Amelie Mauresmo (and the French tennis federation) as Amelie becomes the first woman to captain France's Davis Cup team.

This comment seems a bit overkill, however:

'French tennis federation (FFT) president Bernard Giudicelli described the decision as "completely groundbreaking".'

Amelie was very gracious in giving huge thanks to Andy, saying that it was thanks to his confidence (in the face of derision) that this day was possible

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Saturday 23rd of June 2018 08:28:20 PM

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Yes, the groundbreaking was by Andy, not the FFT. For it to be groundbreaking for the FFT they would have to have appointed a woman who has not already shown that she can coach successfully a male grand slam winner.

Helen40 wrote:

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Well I think of the French as more sexist than we are (although I don't profess to know lots about their culture), so maybe for them it is groundbreaking.

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Off topic, sorry .....

In important ways, I don't actually think the French are more sexist - there's a high number of women in positions of power, for instance, and that is thought of as quite normal.

Currently France are 6th in Europe for female MPs (in front of the UK). Corporate board membership is about 35% (as opposed to EU average of 22% and USA of 20%). Huger number of women in the civil service. 

But there definitely is an expectation that women should be attractive - there's no escaping it. 

However, attractive means 'well-turned' out, not necessarily born 'pretty'. So it's not judging people by how God made them, so much, as how they present themselves to the world. And, yes, women are expected to take the effort to 'present' well. (I don't know if it's still true but I remember in Economics learning that France was the only country that included a weekly 'hair-do' as part of its basic basket for calculation of inflation purposes). 

However, the same does apply to men, in a way, too - clothes and hair count. (Probably not to the same extent though, it's true)

The one rather funny overtly sexist thing that makes me laugh, however, is that a huge chunk of French tv and homegrown movies is based round the idea of a 50 year-old guy getting it together with some 23 year-old girl. Presenters are always the same. Older guy. Young girl. You can't escape it - in fact, each time, you just think, Oh Lord, here we go again. It's obviously a reflection of the director/script-writers/whoever's dreams/perceptions of themselves and their fantasy world..... (and, yes, the domestic film industry is old-school - way too many men - they need female directors and script-writers !)

Overall, though, I find France to be pretty good, certainly as good if not better than the UK, although probably slightly less PC, but I don't rate that much anyway.

However, the president of the FFT comes from Corsica, born and bred there. Worked there. I've never been but it's possible that, for Corsica, it's more of a big deal, having a woman.

But yes, Andy did the groundbreaking part. And he's a true egalitarian - the lad's a role model in that regard (and many others).  

TomTraubert wrote:

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congrats tatjana maria 30yo mum on tour making her 1st wta final in mallorca today

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and she won the title nice story

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