Pow, With one fell swoop Million Dollar Baby has jumped from the silver screen onto the Olympic canvas. Women s boxing will now be included in the 2012 Games in London. While the sight of two women knocking each other silly might not appeal to everybody, the inclusion of such a bloody sport in the next Olympics should erase the notion about women s work being in the home.
Despite this step on behalf of women s rights, there s a belief deep down — in both men and women — that women shouldn t fight. It s painful to get hit and painful to watch it happen. Most would agree boxing is dangerous and at least some would say women should not be put in harm s way.
That is a sexist statement if ever there was one. If this is what some women want, let them go ahead. They asked for it; the bruises, cuts, broken noses and black eyes. These women are not trying to avoid fighting; they re looking for a fight.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not believe female boxing is any more dangerous than crossing the street, though four years ago it rejected women s boxing as an Olympic sport for failing to reach standards of medical safety. There were fears that the sport was not competitive in enough countries, which could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches. But participation has since boomed with 120 international federations having female boxers. From the medical point of view, the IOC re-checked everything and decided all was okay.
The IOC will tell you that head gear well protects the head in amateur boxing, that amateur boxing bouts are short in duration and that this type of competition prizes point-scoring rather than physical power.
Still, many people say boxing as a whole should be banned and the likely reaction to introducing women s boxing at the Olympics will be that it will simply serve to glamorize a dangerous and irresponsible sport and lead to young women putting their health, and perhaps even their lives, at risk. Few people think any female boxer will meet the same fate as that of Hilary Swank who in Million Dollar Baby, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2004, becomes a quadriplegic as a result of a spinal-cord injury suffered in a bout. There will be no female heavyweight category in the Olympics, meaning there will be no lady with true KO power, but of the three weight classes that will be represented, the highest ranking, the middleweights, can pack a wallop.
Olympic female boxing also brings up the age-old question: How could that be an Olympic sport? If one of the requirements for an Olympic sport is that it must be physically demanding, enough to get the competitor out of breath, then shooting, which involves lying down, and golf, hardly a very taxing form of exercise but which will be considered for inclusion at the 2016 Summer Games, should not be in the Games. If a sport must have spectator appeal, then we know why beach volleyball is in the Olympics.
However, if the criteria are universality, popularity, history and tradition, then female boxing comes up short. Set against men s boxing, there is simply no comparison. The women s version lags drastically behind in popularity and exposure. Even those with only a cursory interest in boxing can cite at least a few boxers but cannot name a single female pugilist. Not by coincidence three of the most famous women boxers were made famous mainly because of their last names: Laila Ali, Freeda Georgia Foreman and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde. The daughters of Mohamed, George and Joe traded make up for upper cuts but were seen more as circus acts than bonafide professionals. These ladies of the ring have either retired or will be ineligible to participate in London because like men’s boxing, the women’s competition will be confined to amateurs.
Boxing was the sole Olympic sport with no women involved. Now all 26 sports on the program have female and male competitors. Not only that but some male boxers will not be going to London because one of the 11 men’s classes will be dropped to make room for the three women s weight categories.
But not too fast, ladies. Men are still more equal than women. Men will fight for 10 boxing medals while the women will compete for three.
But don t forget that cigarette commercial which used to chime: You ve come a long way, baby, to get where you got to today . In Beijing, 165 medals were available to men versus 127 to women. In London, thanks to women s boxing, the gap will close.
The advent of female boxing could be the latest sign of the apocalypse. But if it makes women any happier, from now on there will be no such thing as it s a man s job.
