How Olympics Support Gender Equality in Boxing

Gender equality is one of the biggest issues that modern society has to face.

Gender equality is far more than just a human right. It is a necessity for a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous world. In the last decades, we can see a significant change, although there are still many gender issues that girls and women have to face every day. And the goal for almost every female would be achieving gender equality because that will allow them to enjoy the same opportunities, rights, resources, and protections as males. 

Based on some free essay samples on gender equality written by students, we found out that many teachers implement this issue as a lesson in education in many schools and universities worldwide. And as mentioned in essays on gender equality, sport is one of the most powerful platforms where gender equality can be promoted. The main reason being, most of the time, females don’t get the chance to perform in some sports such as boxing because it is considered to be a manly sport. 

One of the most notable changes done about this issue is the fact that the International Olympic Committee as the leader of the Olympic movement, started taking continuous actions to show the world what is gender equality, and they are doing their best to empower girls and women. 

Women didn’t compete in boxing or in most other sports in ancient times, but in modern times you can see more and more woman boxers who have started training. In 1904, the Olympic games started featuring women’s boxing, but just like a display event because the women didn’t have permission to compete in amateur matches. That was until 1980 when the fitness movement helped to make boxing more accessible to females. And in 1990, women finally got an official permission to box in competitions. 

The first time a woman got a chance to participate in every sport in the Olympic games, including women’s boxing, was back in London 2012. The sport was continuously rejected due to concerns about the international competition standard. Although the number of boxer’s licenses was growing from year to year. And since then a lot of changes were made to the Olympic competition program.

A new sport was included, and the number of events and athletes was reduced, and of course, more female athletes were included. In the competition of Rio in 2016, there were 45.6% of women participants, in 2020 in Tokyo, the women represent 48.8% of the total athletes. In the next Olympic Games, in Paris 2024, the Olympic Games will achieve a full gender balance and, the number of women participants will be 50%. Boxing will have six women’s events, taking away one event from the men’s competition, achieving gender equality in boxing.

In amateur boxing, the females have to follow the same rules as in male boxing. Competing in three rounds of three minutes and a one-minute break in-between the rounds, and the winning methods are the same, victory via points and victory via knockout. The only exceptions are that females have to wear breast protectors and protective headgears. And the groin protection is optional. 

Conclusion: 

Amazing progress has been made in terms of balancing the numbers between male and female athlete participants in every game. However, there are still challenges remaining, such as the inequalities in the leadership. And the International Olympic Committee is even working towards appointing more females to leadership roles within the key government positions and administration to make those inequalities equal.

The International Olympic Committee has made a huge step ahead for gender equality and has offered females from all around the world the greater opportunity to participate in sporting events, although there are still many who need to follow this example so gender equality can be truly achieved in the world.