What Recent News Tells Us About the Policing of Women’s Uniforms Today
In today’s episode of ‘women have to take matters into their own hands again': We discuss the heavily debated topic of the Norwegian Women's Beach Handball Team's clash with the European Beach Handball Championships late last month.
To jog your memory, the team was fined €1,500 (close to SGD $2,410) for not complying with uniform regulations. Their crime? Choosing to wear shorts instead of bikini bottoms during their bronze medal match. In this modern day and age, we begin to ask the question: Are we really doing this again?
The unfortunate truth is that women are still pretty much policed in whatever they choose to do — be it in life or for work. When it comes to professional sports like handball — or any sport for that matter — women are judged beyond their athleticism. It’s all about performed femininity for the male gaze.
This is hardly the first time such a topic of debate has been sparked: With the Badminton World Federation’s past attempt of forcing women to play with skirts to "look feminine and have a nice presentation” as well as increase ratings in 2012 coming to mind. It goes without saying that women have to play double roles in their sport — to be good and to look good.
If you follow beach handball, you’ll know that Norway’s rebellion against the status quo is unsurprising. The team have been actively protesting against the International Handball Federation (IHF) outdated rules that require players to wear bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg” and a maximum side width of 10 centimetres.
At this moment in time, male handball athletes do not face the same restrictions when it comes to performance wear: The only requirement being that their shorts must not be too baggy. “I don’t see why we can’t play in shorts,” says Norwegian athlete Martine Welfler, “with so much body shaming and stuff like that these days, you should be able to wear a little bit more when you play.”
That coupled with the fact that wearing shorts instead of bikinis do not give athletes an added advantage when playing in the sand should tell you enough about the double standards in elite sports today. Former director of Western University’s International Center for Olympic Studies Janice Forsyth explains: “I don’t see how that argument holds any weight. To say that wearing less clothing, as the women are required to do, allows them to be better athletes is just silly.”
Professor and Chair of the Human Kinetics Department at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada Charlene Weaving agrees: “If there was any kind of advantage to having little fabric, the men would be wearing them too. If there was any kind of biomechanical advantage, then men would be in Speedos, but they’re not.”
On the other hand, it’s nice to know that the world is gradually making progress when it comes to topics such as this one. Women are more outspoken about the sexism they face and they are being heard. One such instance of this is SkyUp Airlines’ recent announcement of changes to their uniforms for female-presenting flight attendants.
Gone are the days when working stewardesses have to trapeze through narrow airline cabins in pinchy heels and tight skirts. The Ukrainian airline is the first to trade in the traditional look for a more comfortable one — stylish loose-fitting pants from Ukrainian fashion brand GUDU and white Nike Air Max 720 tennis shoes.
“Times have changed, women have changed, so in contrast to the conservative classics, heels, red lipstick and a bun, a new, more modern and comfortable image of a ‘champion’ has appeared. Freedom, natural beauty, individuality, no patterns and sneakers in which everyone ‘would like to fly’,” says Marianna Grigorash, Head of SkyUp Airlines Marketing Department
