Are skirts going to be enforced?
With the London Olympics soon to be upon us, amateur boxing chiefs are scheduled to hold a meeting in relation to whether female boxers should be forced to wear skirts rather than boxing shorts in a bid to help spectators distinguish between men and women boxers, something that has caused a huge uproar within the amateur boxing rankings.
The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) have already taken steps towards looking to implement the female fightwear by asking fighters to trial the garments but during the European Championships late last year but only the Polish and Romanian fighters took to the ring wearing boxing skirts.
The meeting which has been set up to decide whether the skirts should be standard fightwear for female fighters will take place in Thailand on 18th-22nd June and will require all six commissions that will attend the meeting to have a final decision by July, in time to make the enforcement if that is what the meeting results in deciding.
The London Olympics will be the debut stage for women’s boxing within the competition and talks that the female fighters could have to enter into the competition wearing skirts has led to controversy, a number of fighters stating that they do not intend to wear the garment in the ring.
Katie Taylor, a three time world champions told the BBC last October that she did not feel comfortable with the thought of wearing a “mini-skirt” in the ring and pointed out that she did not “wear mini-skirts on a night out” and showed a strong resistance to the prospect of being forced to wear one and true to her word, Taylor entered the ring in boxing shorts.
Although there are a large group of female fighters that are fighting against the prospect of being forced to wear a skirt while boxing, there is support for the motion from other female fighters that have said that they see no issue with the possible enforcement of what to wear within the ring, India’s MC Mary Kom pointing out “The tennis players wear skirts and the badminton players are wearing skirts, so why shouldn’t boxers wear skirts?”
The opposition to the possible dress code alteration to the regulations have taken to the online community in order to draw more support for their fight for the right to be able to decide what they want to wear in the ring, starting an online petition against the motion, which has already surpassed 50,000 signatures.
AIBA have issued comment to say that they are aware of the petition and the feelings of the female boxers that are against a dress code but they have to consider the views of everyone from the fighters to the wider public, saying that they are “seeking a consensus.”
One female boxer that will be looking to take advantage of the possible alteration is Laura Saperstein who has launched her own range of ringwear, which includes some very impressive boxing skirts with the possibility of custom design should there be a call for it.
Let us know your feelings on the matter.