woodenspoon

In this week’s New Statesman, under the title Pushing Boundaries, Adrianne Blue argues, rightly in my view, that the development of women’s sport mirrors the increasingly important role that they are playing in society today, particularly in western cultures. At the same time that women are reaching senior positions in business for example, women are also taking part in more extreme sporting activities which were until recently only available to men.

However, in developing her argument she seems to be suggesting that women will only reach equality with men if they participate in all sports. She concludes her article by supporting the suggestion that women’s boxing should become an Olympic sport by 2012. I disagree strongly with her conclusion.

In my homeland Korea, women still have to fight for equality and, whilst our rights may be protected in law, in reality we are still regarded as second class citizens. A great deal of discrimination against women still exists in Korean companies. So I am a great supporter of women’s rights and will fight to ensure that my generation of Korean women will play a much greater role in our society.

But women are different from men and they should keep their own identity. Ms Blue argues that women should stretch their boundaries and I agree with that. But boxing is one step too far. It would be like mud wrestling and likely to attract voyeurs rather than sports fans. This would not raise the status of women but rather diminish it. She states that people ignore women’s boxing because it makes them nervous. I believe it is because they find it uncivilised and distasteful.