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| In October and November, 1998, there were two widely publicised boxing bouts involving girls. In the first, staged in Hobart, the participants were 14 and 16. In the second, held on the Gold Coast, they were 11 and 12. Prior to these there had been an exhibition bout between two women, one aged 16, the other 25, held at South Melbourne, in October, 1998. These fights have sparked a major debate on whether women and/or minors should be able to box. The Federal sports minister, Jackie Kelly, stated in October, 1998, that it would be patronising to ban women's and girls' boxing. Other bodies, notably the Australian Medical Association, protested strongly against the apparent expansion of boxing into sections of the population it has been claimed are particularly at risk. |
Background
The first boxing matches between women were staged in London in the 1700s. In 1904 women's boxing was a display event at the third modern Olympic games. However, it was not until 1994 that the Amateur International Boxing Association recognised women's right to box.
In Australia, women's boxing is legal in all states except New South Wales. However, the Victorian premier, Mr Jeff Kennett, has responded to the recent debate about women boxing by claiming that if such a competition were introduced into his state the government would introduce legislation to prohibit it.
There has been a growth of interest and support for women's boxing across the world since the mid 1990s, however, it is still very much a minority sport in Australia with a small number of participants either professional or amateur.
Regarding juniors, the general age across Australia at which a young person can begin boxing is 10. Traditionally, junior boxers have been male, but with the development of interest in women's boxing there have been a number of well-publicised bouts involving girls.
| There are a number of Internet sites supplying information on aspects of this issue. The on-line news service, Nando Media, has a March 1998 report on the banning of two female boxing contests to be held in Mexico City. The report, titled Mexico City law cancels women's matches can be found at http://www2.nando.net/newsroom/sports/oth/1998/oth/box/feat/archive/030498/box9459.html A boxing information site titled The Boxing Ring has an interesting sub-section of its site devoted to women's boxing. The relevant section can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/6251/amateur.htm This gives a useful historical overview of women's boxing and outlines the situation regarding women's boxing in a number of countries including Britain, Australia and Canada. At the end of this overview you will find links to more detailed sites dealing with women's boxing in Australia, Britain, Canada, Sweden and the United States. It also has a link to a report published in the British Telegraph in November, 1998, on attempts by the Australian Medical Association to have boxing between young female competitors banned. |
Arguments in favour of women and children being allowed to box
The central argument in support of women boxing is that, whatever the risks, the choice is theirs.
This view has been put by Mark Rennie, son of Jack Rennie, Lionel Rose' trainer.
Mark Rennie has claimed, `As for women boxing, that is their choice. We have no more right to deny them from competing than to deny them access to the members at the MCG.'
A similar point has been made by Mischa Merz, a female boxer.
`As an adult woman, I don't expect to be treated like a child. I box for my own reasons, I know the risks, I understand the dangers and I am prepared to take them on ... at my age I don't expect anyone to tell me I can't do something because of my gender. I believe that would be patronising.'
It has further been claimed that if women were to be banned from boxing the sport would still go on, it would simply be driven underground.
Those who make this argument are concerned that if women's boxing were to go underground that would increase its dangers as it would be unlikely to be sufficiently regulated.
Ms Amanda Buchanan, a former Australian amateur champion and reigning professional champion, has claimed, `Women will still fight. But it will go underground and there will be no referees or doctors.'
It has also been claimed that the calls to ban female boxing exaggerate its dangers and minimise the dangers of other sports women play.
This point has been made by Tim Harris, commentator for The Age.
Mr Harris has claimed, `If the argument against women's boxing is that it is too dangerous, hockey makes nonsense of it. An errant blow with a hockey stick can do all sorts of damage, as can a stray elbow in netball.'
It has further been claimed that as it is currently practised boxing is very closely regulated and supervised so that the risk of serious injury is relatively slight.
It has been noted, for example, that female boxers must wear breast protectors and can wear groin protectors.
John Scida, who trains female boxer Joanna Falzon, has claimed, `If you've got a trainer, three judges, a referee and a doctor at the ring, you've got seven people looking after you.
It has also been claimed that boxing training and the discipline involved promote a healthy lifestyle among all competitors, whatever their gender.
This point has been made by female boxer Joanna Falzon, who has claimed, `Boxing takes a lot of dedication; you can't go out partying, you can't eat chocolate bars, you have to do a lot of training.'
It has also been claimed that participating in a full contact sport such as boxing can boost women's confidence.
Amanda Buchanan, the current titleholder of the Commonwealth professional bantamweight women's competition, has claimed, `Boxing gave me self-assurance because its full contact, but with rules. A lot of females get self-assurance from boxing. It's not that they want to go and beat someone up, but they want to get confidence.'
It has also been claimed that having been a boxer might help some young women find employment.
In the United States the prize money can be so large that female boxers can actually either live off their sport or significantly supplement their income through it.
Though far less prize money is available in Australia and the vast majority of Australia's female boxers are amateurs, it has been claimed that employers may be favourable impressed by a woman who has boxed.
Joanna Falzon has claimed that boxing helped her gain a job.
Ms Falzon has said that her employer believed that anyone disciplined enough to train each night would be disciplined enough to turn up for work each day.
Supporters of the sport also claim that it offers particular advantages for young people.
Those who hold this point of view stress that there are many dangers, such as drug abuse, confronting young people, and that the discipline and goal-setting that are a part of boxing may actually assist young people.
This point has been made by well-known trainer, Keith Ellis.
Mr Ellis has claimed, `There's 50 drug addicts in every street and you can't even hang your Levis out on the line any more, but they want to stop a couple of hundred kids around the country setting goals for themselves in a clean, healthy sport.'
Mr Ellis has claimed that boxing provides a healthy alternative lifestyle and that its discipline was valuable for young people.
Arguments against women and children being allowed to box
Those who oppose women and girls boxing frequently opposing boxing generally. Thus many of the arguments against women and children participating in boxing are arguments against the sport as practised by anyone.
The main argument offered is that boxing is virtually unique among sports in having as its supposed primary aim the injuring of one's opponent. Critics of the sport are especially concerned that the objective of a knock-out is only achieved by inflicting brain injury on an opponent.
The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Dr David Brand, has been reported as claiming that boxing differed from other contact sports because the object was to inflict brain damage on an opponent.
The AMA's vice-president, Dr Sandra Hacker, has been reported as claiming that boxers suffered cumulative brain damage from blows to the head, which protective headgear did little to prevent.
Those who hold this point of view tend to be especially concerned about children boxing, because they claim that the consequences of brain injury may be even worse for young people.
This point has also been made by Dr Michael Gliksman, a specialist public health physician.
Dr Gliksman has claimed that neurological studies have revealed subtle evidence of brain damage in people who have taken part in competition boxing. Dr Gliksman claims, `Sophisticated brain scanning studies ... showed the presence of significant changes even in young amateur boxers.'
Dr Gliksman has also claimed that the presence of a doctor at ringside is only a public relations exercise for the sport. Dr Gliksman suggests that a ringside doctor is unable to prevent the damage that is regularly inflicted on boxers' brains.
There is a general concern that developing bodies should not be subjected to the sort of injuries that could result from boxing.
Dr Gliksman claims that any ban on boxing among young people should not specifically target women, but should prevent all minors, whether male or female, from participating in such a hazardous activity.
There is also concern as to whether children are sufficiently mature and well enough informed of the possible health consequences to make the decision to box.
Those who hold this point of view note that young people are not legally able to engage in other potentially hazardous activities such as driving, smoking and consuming alcohol until they are anywhere between 16 and 18.
It has been suggested that the reason for this is that young people need sufficient knowledge and life experience to enable them to make appropriate decisions as to whether or not they will take up possibly life-threatening activities. It has been suggested that the same reasoning should be applied to boxing and that no child should be legally able to box. (New South Wales is enacting legislation that prohibits any child under 14 boxing.)
Relatedly, there is concern that boxing promoters, trainers and parents are not exercising due care.
Dr David Brand has claimed, `Boxing is a sport that involves a high degree of risk and we have got a situation where promoters are not protecting children and parents are not protecting children, so it is time governments did.'
The AMA would ultimately like to see all boxing prohibited by law, however, one of its short-term objectives is that boxing be banned for all those under 18, whether male or female.
The specific question of whether women should box has prompted a wider range of opposing arguments.
One of the main opposing arguments is that women's physiology puts them at particular risk of injury. Central to this appears to be concern that they will receive injuries to the breasts or womb.
This position has been put by the premier of Victoria, Mr Jeff Kennett, who has threatened to ban female boxing, both amateur and professional, in that state.
Mr Kennett has stated, `I don't care what the argument may be in terms of equal opportunity or discrimination. I just think the risks are unacceptable.'
A Victorian Government spokesperson, Mr Steve Murphy, was also reported as saying that Mr Kennett was concerned for women's physical welfare, including the possibility of damage to the womb.
Relatedly it has also been claimed that boxing is an inappropriate activity for women because the aggression and risk of physical injury involved is contrary to popular ideals of femininity.
This point has been made by Johnny Famechon, a former world featherweight champion, who has claimed women `lose their femininity' when they box.
It has further been suggested that recent attempts to promote women and children boxing as a spectator sport have been undertaken in a bid to revitalise a sport that has suffered in part as a result of scandals associated with some male boxers.
It has also been suggested that another reason for a decline in boxing's popularity is that many male potential boxers have heeded the various health warnings about the sport and are no longer participating.
This point was put in a Herald Sun editorial published on November 23, 1998.
The editorial claimed, `Boxing promoters have sought to exploit our primitive instincts to keep alive a sport that society no longer considers noble.'
The editorial went on to suggest that this attempt was being made by having `women and children variously matched in a canvas ring, belting one another into submission.'
Further implications
At least within Australia, the issue of child boxing appears to have been partly resolved.
It was announced in December of 1998, that child boxing was likely to be banned after an agreement was reached between the Federal Government and the Amateur Boxing Union.
Under this agreement, uniform laws are to be introduced in 1999 to prohibit all children under 12 from fighting in the ring.
However, a working committee has been established to consider whether boxing should be banned for all those under 18. The Australian Medical Association strongly supports this proposal. It seems likely, however, that it will be more difficult to reach a ruling regarding young boxers aged 16 and 17 than it apparently was to prohibit those under 12 from taking part in the activity.
The question of whether women should remain in the ring is significantly more vexed. It seems unlikely that all states will follow Victoria's lead and propose the prohibition of both professional and amateur bouts between women. The belief that such a law would be discriminatory and impossible to enforce appears fairly general.
It also seems unlikely that the states will act on the recommendation of the NSW sports minister, Gabrielle Harrison, that there be a uniform national ban on boxing for under 14-year olds.
However, it may not come to legislation, as the Victorian Amateur Boxing League has banned girls under the age of 14 from boxing. Such a move may have been taken as a way of pre-empting more restrictive government legislation.
It seems probable that bouts involving women will be banned across Australia only if a woman is seriously injured or killed or if boxing as a whole is banned. Were there to be a death or serious injury in women's boxing it is likely that it would accelerate calls for the total abolition of boxing for all sexes.
Sources
The Age
9/10/98 page 6 news item, `Girls' boxing bout under fire from AMA'
20/11/98 page 9 news item by Adrian Rollins, `Doctors shape up for a bout against child boxing'
21/11/98 page 3 news item by Adrian Rollins, `NSW breaks ranks on child boxing'
21/11/98 page 3 news item by Tim Winkler, `Fighter pulls no punches'
23/11/98 page 8 news item, `Woolridge tosses in towel over boxing row'
23/11/98 page 17 comment by Mark Rennie, `In defence (and praise) of my beloved boxing'
24/11/98 page 14 analysis by Tim Winkler, `Come out fighting'
29/11/98 page 19 comment by Tim Harris, `Throwing in the towel along with the double standards'
2/1/99 page 3 news item by Chloe Saltau, `Ruling KOs girls who like a stoush'
The Australian
17/11/98 page 1 news item by Penelope Green, `Seconds out: women hit critics with the ol' one-two'
17/11/98 page 5 news item by Christopher Niesche, `Doctors put a 10-count on women's boxing'
17/11/98 page 5 comments by Graham Healy & Sandra Hacker, `In the ring, girls must decide/ Brain damage the danger"
18/11/98 page 4 news item by Stefanie Balogh, `Zowie lets her fists do the talking'
19/11/98 page 14 editorial, `Boxing an issue of age, not gender'
19/11/98 page 15 comment by Michael Gliksman, `Boxing ring no place for children'
21/11/98 page 6 news item by John Kerin & Michael Magazanik, `KO for minister on child boxing'
21/11/98 page 6 news item by Christopher Niesche, `Shy girl opens Pasndora's box'
25/11/98 page 3 news item by Trudy Harris, `Ban KOs boxing for children'
The Herald Sun
9/10/98 page 3 news item by Carolyn Alexander, `Teen girls set to pinch it out'
12/10/98 page 9 news item by Rick Wallace, `Fury at teen bout'
26/10/98 page 3 news item by Bruce Brammall, `Champ's blow to girl boxers'
19/11/98 page 19 comment by Jill Singer, `Sisters in violence'
20/11/98 page 13 news item by Karl Malakunas, `Doctors step up fight against child boxing'
21/11/98 page 9 news item by Vanessa Williams & Karl Malakunas, `Kennett KOs women boxers'
21/11/98 page 9 news item by Mischa Merz, `Ban's a bit below the belt'
23/11/98 page 18 editorial, `KO the thuggery'
12/12/98 page 11 news item by Andrew Cummins, `Child boxing to be banned'