IN the press conference immediately after she had won her semi-final to reach a ninth Wimbledon final, the third question Serena Williams was asked was whether or not she deserved equal prize money to the men. The third question. One of the world’s greatest athletes was sitting in front of the press and only two more issues were deemed more pressing than that of equal prize money.

The question arose because she had just demolished Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes. Williams’s reply, a version of which she has been forced to drudge out throughout her career, was, “Yeah, I think we deserve equal prize money. Absolutely. I mean, if you happen to write a short article, do you think you don't deserve equal pay as your beautiful colleague behind you?”

It seems likely that the equal pay dispute will never go away. Even the respected Times columnist, Matthew Syed, tweeted after watching Andy Murray and Milos Raonic reach the men’s singles final, “Watching these scintillating 5-setters, it reminds me how ludicrous it is that men and women earn the same prize money at Wimbledon.” His argument for this is that equal money is “true casual sexism” and that feminism should be “far more radical”. Oh do shut up, Matthew. There’s nothing better than a middle-aged man lecturing women on how they’re doing feminism wrong. This is from a man who described women’s tennis in one of his columns as always having a soft-porn dimension. Previously, he began an interview with the swimmer, Fran Halsall, who has been world and European champion, by stating that the first thing to say about her is that she is beautiful. It’s only really the first thing that someone would say about her if they were looking at her through a sexist lens that prohibits them from seeing women as elite athletes rather than something to be objectified.

Funnily enough though, despite this narrative which continues to imply that female athletes are of less worth than their male counterparts, there is cause for encouragement. I have just finished reading Anna Kessel’s new book, Eat, Sweat, Play: How Sport Can Change Our Lives. It asks what does it mean to be a sporty woman in the 21st century? The challenge is that no one seems to really know. Elite sportswomen continue to be devalued by receiving, in many sports, less prize money, less sponsorship and less media coverage than male athletes, but in all of these cases, there has been improvements and however tiny they may be, they are a step in the right direction.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing that has happened in the past few years though is the increased awareness that it’s not okay to continually diminish women’s sport and female athletes. Kessel’s book has received rave reviews while in comparison, it’s hard to imagine such a book doing so well a decade ago.

Similarly, when Syed argued that female tennis players should not be paid equally, there were countless people, both men and women, who vociferously disagreed with him. When the BBC reported Williams’s semi-final result, the broadcaster tweeted, “Her match lasted just 48 minutes . . . but Serena Williams says female players deserve equal pay.” Ten years ago, I’m not sure this would have attracted much comment but last week, the BBC was lambasted for it.

Williams is most commonly cited as the example as to why women should get paid equally – she is, after all, one of the few athletes who have managed to transcend their sport. But another reason that the American is so often used as an example is because she is such a formidable promoter of equality. In another of her Wimbledon press conferences, she was asked, “There will be talk about you going down as one of the greatest female athletes of all time. What do you think when you hear someone talk like that?” To which she replied, “I prefer 'one of the greatest athletes of all time’.” Few could argue with this.

Men’s matches have always taken precedence on the show courts over women’s matches at Wimbledon but for the first time this year, the issue was widely questioned. That Ronda Rousey is a far bigger and more marketable star in the UFC than almost all of the men, less than five years after the owner of the UFC said that women would never fight in it, shows that progress is being made. The London Olympic Games four years ago gave female athletes in Britain the biggest platform they have ever had to showcase their talent; Rio could help their cause further. There will always be individuals who comment on female athletes’ looks ahead of their performance and there will always be some who say they don’t deserve to be paid as much as the men. But however slow the progress may be, it is happening.