The Fight outside the Ring: Female Boxing Officials in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Women’s boxing, like women’s sport in general, has come a very long way since the early days of patriarchal prohibition (Hargreaves, 1994; Heiskanen, 2012). However, there is still some way to go before claims of substantive equality in participation, media coverage, sponsorship and public attitudes can be maintained (van Ingen, 2013b; Woodward, 2014). The ascension of women’s boxing to Olympic status at the 2012 London Olympics can serve as a manifestation of this process (see Godoy-Pressland, Chapter 2 in this volume). Furthermore, the granting of Olympic status to women’s boxing can also be seen as marking the culmination of years of struggle to achieve greater recognition, visibility and respectability for female involvement in the sport (Hargreaves, 1994; Woodward, 2014). This suggested impact of women’s boxing has been framed as one of the important legacies of the Games (Woodward, 2014). However, gaining Olympic status was not without the usual gendered opposition to women’s involvement in the sport. In addition, its inclusion was also not seen as fully equitable, for women were only allowed to participate in three weight categories (flyweight, lightweight and middle weight) compared to ten for men (van Ingen, 2013b; Jennings and Cabrera, Chapter 6 in this volume; Woodward, 2014).