Women Boxers might wear miniskirts in 2012 Olympics

Women’s Boxing is finally making its entry into the 2012 Olympics. This step forward in gender equality in sports is facing an immediate problem; the women competitors are being forced to abide by a different dress code than their male counterparts.

The Amateur International Boxing Association, the group behind this dress code, is calling for the women to wear miniskirts instead of shorts. All of their reasons for their decision revolve around the appearance of the match. President of AIBA, Ching-Kuo Wu, said to Albany, N.Y.’s Times Union, “I have heard many times people say, 'We can't tell the difference between the men and the women.’”

The Polish women’s boxing coach, Leszek Piotrowski, has already made his boxers wear the skirts in a previous tournament. Piotrowski tried explaining to BBC Sport his reason for supporting the rule. "By wearing skirts, in my opinion, it gives a good impression, a womanly impression."

Many people consider Piotrowski’s argument humorous. Whether or not the competitors are wearing miniskirts, they will still be trying to knock each other out. Conspiracies also are arising due to the dress code specifying miniskirts. This creates an idea that the dress code is being used to please male viewers and increase ratings.

Badminton suggested a similar dress code a while before the AIBA started an attempt at creating the miniskirt dress code. The Badminton dress code was quickly given up after it was made fun of by much of the general public.

With the Olympics coming up soon, talks on the dress code aren’t finished. There is still a bit of hope that a miniskirt dress code may not happen, but only time will tell if the AIBA will drop their idea and not face angered athletes.