No right ordering Serena to stay home!
Published:Thursday | September 21, 2017 | 7:15 PMTHE EDITOR, Sir:
I wanted to think it was just a slip-up when I read that social commentator Barbara Blake-Hannah tweeted parental advice to tennis champ Serena Williams, who recently gave birth to her and her partner's first child.
But after the initial tweet and the heavy backlash that followed, instead of apologising, Blake-Hannah added more, trying to justify her original comments. In the tweet, Blake-Hannah responded to Williams' glowing tweet on becoming a new mom. She congratulated Williams but then went on to be judgemental.
Blake-Hannah suggested that Williams "be a real mother and stay home with her baby". In essence, she urged Williams to retire from the sport (that made her who she is) and focus on raising her child for the next however many years.
She went on to add that Williams and her partner (co-founder of Reddit) were rich enough, adding that three months' maternity leave is hardly enough!
Blake Hannah ought to know better than casting judgement. Women generally stay home with their young ones in the early months, sometimes for years, based on many factors, most of which are personal.
No one has the right to tell another woman that because she gave birth, everything else should be on hold until the child grown up. No one has the right to say that a woman ought to stop working and stay home because she gave birth.
And what audacity to not consider Williams' own love for the sport that made her the champion she is! Does Blake-Hannah think Williams, like most other athletes, only plays for money and ego? Blake-Hannah should know that a happy mom makes for a happy family whether she chooses to work or play.
Sometimes we need to learn to mind our own business and allow others to do the same - unless, of course, someone is seriously threatened or harmed or it affects us personally!
P. CHIN