Still not quite equal

I read an article today. It was from a little while ago but it was by Abby Hoffman who is the former director of sport in Canada. She was talking about how, while women’s sport has come a long way, from not being able to run more than 100 meters, or play sports like rugby, or hockey, or boxing, or wrestling. To where women can now compete in all these sports. But she specifically was talking about the 1994 commonwealth games and how while sport for women has come a long way, in those games only women were allowed to compete in rhythmic gymnastics, and synchronized swimming, and only men were allowed to compete in boxing, wrestling and weightlifting. She went on to talk about how the sports that were only for women reflect this socially acceptable image that women should be graceful and beautiful while men can be strong and combative. I found this very interesting so I looked up the sports being featured in the 2012 London olympics and while weightlifting has been added to the olympic events for women, boxing and wrestling are still not available for women to compete in. I’m glad that in the last 18 years we have added women’s weightlifting but I also believe that we should add women’s boxing and wrestling. I don’t understand how these events are still not part of the olympics. Women are allowed to participate in events like judo, taekwondo, hockey, and rugby. I think its about time to add wrestling and boxing to the olympic lineup

Casey Feickert,

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