Canadian boxer Elizabeth Plank challenges AIBA’s skirt-wearing idea – Boxing news
The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) has been brought inside the ring by an amateur boxer Elizabeth Plank who hails from Montreal Canada. The two parties will now fight on AIBA’s proposal which suggested that women should wear skirts while
fighting in the ring.
According to the details, Plank has started a campaign against the gender discrimination effort initiated by the association. She has started an online petition-signing process on the website called change.org, and by now almost 52,000 individuals have conveyed
their signed negation against the idea.
AIBA originally wanted female boxers to wear skirts in the upcoming 2012 London Olympics where women boxing will make its debut at the Games. The project started initially in the European Championship when AIBA requested the female brawlers to wear skirts
while taking on their competitors on a trial basis. The idea even at that moment was not accepted by all and sundry. In October 2011, only boxers hailing from Poland and Romania wore skirts but the rest ignored the association’s request.
Since then AIBA’s effort has been vehemently protested by almost all the senior title holder female pugilists. While talking to a reputable news agency, Plank shared her viewpoint saying, “Forcing women to wear skirts, I think, it's sexism.”
Not only her, all senior brawlers have shared the same thoughts when asked to comment.
What is important they said was that the decision of wearing shorts or skirts should lie with the boxer and not with the association. It is a boxer’s discretion as to what she wants to wear and what not.
Katie Taylor, who hails from Ireland and is a three-time world champion said, “It is a disgrace that they are forcing some of the women to wear those mini-skirts.”
All the eminent boxers are unanimous on this one stand that boxing is a fighting competition and it needs a bit of leverage as far as dressing is concerned while keeping in mind the brawlers’ comfort.
Even Natasha Jones, who is the current British lightweight champion, when asked to comment on AIBA’s innovative idea said, “Nothing practical is going to come from wearing a skirt," she added that, "The only people who would want to see women in skirts are
men.”
It was a harsh statement but it definitely shows the intensity with which even the current title-holders are expressing their resentment regarding AIBA’s skirt-wearing aspect.
The petition has been accepted by AIBA and it will be heard in Thailand officially. The initial committee will then forward its recommendations to the executive committee which will after careful consideration and taking into account the rules, regulations,
and necessity of the idea, issue its formal decision in the month of July.
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