Want to Throw Like a Girl? In India You Need to Be a Boy

by Priyal Thakkar

“The Indian women’s hockey team has never achieved anything and it never will. They are domesticated Indian women. Where will they run around in shorts, playing? They have no sponsors, no spectators, no TV channels or media coverage. Which coach will agree to coach a women’s hockey team and ruin his career?”

I think this dialogue from a popular Bollywood movie, Chakh De India!, perfectly encapsulates the state of sportswomen in India.

There are two issues that direly need to be discussed for women in sports: the reluctance to let girls play sports and the differing standards of perception of men and women in sports.

Gender inequality being rampant everywhere, it comes as no surprise that men and women are held to different standards in sports as well. Women are not only discouraged from taking up sports, but the few who do have to surpass grueling obstacles to merely stay in the race. Pricilla Chois’ study about the sex appeal and flex appeal of physically active women highlights that the ‘pursuit of, and preoccupation with, beauty are central features of the ideology of femininity’ which is the underlying cause of the resistance against women entering sports. Since childhood, girls have been taught to pursue beauty, not strength. Any association to a ‘manly trait’ is not only frowned upon, but vehemently avoided. She gives the example of two sports — aerobics and bodybuilding. Aerobics is considered an acceptable physical activity for women to participate in as the central aim of aerobics is to lose fat and create a beautiful, toned, and sexy physique. In contrast, the aim of bodybuilding is to make the body stronger and more muscular which runs against the concept of femininity, and hence is exponentially more difficult for women to get into.

Women find it easier to be accepted playing certain sports that men have never played. Gaining approval playing a predominantly man’s game is a tough shell to crack. Recently, Sania Mirza, an Indian professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in the women’s doubles rankings, was asked by a prime-time journalist, “Amidst all the celebrityhood, when is Sania going to settle down? … What about motherhood? Building a family? I don’t see that in the book. It seems like you don’t want to retire yet to settle down.” She shut him down with,

“You don’t think I’m settled? You sound disappointed that I am not choosing motherhood over being No.1 in the world at this point of time. But I’ll answer your question anyway. This is one of the questions, as women, that we have to face all the time…Unfortunately, that’s when we are settled and no matter how many Wimbledons we win or No.1's we become, we don’t become ‘settled’.”

If you’re an XX chromosome holder in India,
chances are you won’t ever go to school.
If you’re privileged enough to,
chances are you’ll never be allowed to pursue
sports professionally.
If somehow, you manage to,
chances are nobody will ever know who you are.
If you think you can get the country
to cheer for you,
chances are you’ll be specifically ridiculed.
Do you have what it takes?
Because there are two games
you’ll need to play.