In commemoration of International Women’s Day, Fight for Peace Partnerships Manager and boxing enthusiast Manuela shares an important message about the future of women’s boxing.  She highlights the progress made and the challenges ahead, while calling for action to engage and retain young women’s participation in sport.

“Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend the first-ever all-women’s boxing card at Royal Albert Hall. It was a truly inspiring night full of exceptional talent and an exuberant crowd. I’ll never forget seeing Lauren Price walk out to thousands of fans waving Welsh flags,  singing ‘Yma o Hyd’ at the top of their lungs, and cheering her throughout all ten rounds. 

I can’t wait for the day when one of our Fight for Peace women competitors walks out to this kind of reception.

But media coverage of this historical night provided a stark reminder to all of us who thought we were witnessing true progress in women’s boxing: there are not enough up and coming women boxers to keep this momentum going.

This is disheartening because everyday at the Fight for Peace Academy I see young women and girls rushing in with big smiles on their faces, excited to take part in boxing and other combat sports. They walk in with a confidence that I truly admire. They do this because we created a space where nobody is going to say that you can’t achieve greatness in sport simply because you are a girl.

I, like many women I know, did not receive this encouragement when I was young. When I expressed curiosity about sport I was shut down by adults telling me I wasn’t athletic or I was too girly or I wasn’t strong enough. I had to wait until I was 25 years old for someone to say to me: you should try boxing. And when I did try it, it was love at first punch. Therefore, I never want a girl to receive the discouragement that I did and waste years of talent.

It starts at the grassroots. In addition to Fight for Peace’s award-winning work to inspire young women and girls to try combat sports, there are many campaigns aiming to get women and girls into all kinds of sport, including the groundbreaking This Girl Can, US Girls, and We Are Undefeatable. This is the change we need.

But with all these efforts to increase grassroots participation, why isn’t there a strong pipeline of women at the elite levels of boxing? Why are girls giving up on their love of sport? Why are we letting all that untapped talent go to waste?

We need to play the long game. While we’re proud of how many women and girls attend Fight for Peace, we still have a problem to solve. There is a big drop off when our young women hit their early teens, and it is dispiriting when it is assumed that this is happening because it is too difficult for the girls to move to the more advanced classes.

Girls don’t give up sport because it’s too difficult. A recent report from Women in Sport shows that 1.3 million girls who loved sport at primary school disengage in their teens because they’re dealing with their periods and breast health, they are worried about being judged, and they have added school pressures. These are barriers that coaches need to be aware of and equipped to support so that girls don’t have to give up what they love. We need to make real efforts to keep young women in sport. 

But there is still more to it. We need to show girls that the world wants more top women athletes. The Women in Sports Dream Deficit survey shows that 52% of boys say they dream of becoming a top athlete, but only 29% of girls share this dream. We need to close the Dream Gap.

The message that nobody wants to see women box (or play football or any other sport) is tired and lazy, and it isn’t true. The reality is, Arsenal’s women’s team sold out the Emirates Stadium, Katie Taylor’s Olympic debut created record breaking noise levels at 114 decibels, Lionesses kit sales soared after they brought football home, and Ilona Maher’s jersey is outselling all of the US mens.

We need to show young women and girls that we want them in sport, from the grassroots to to Royal Albert Hall, with our actions and with our words.

So let’s do this. 

The next all-women’s boxing card will be headlined by Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in July and I can’t wait. I hope the young women in my life hear me cheering on these two incredible athletes at the top of my lungs – dreaming that one day it will be them I’m cheering for.

In the meantime buy those tickets, wear that merchandise, and tell everyone you want to see more women athletes in the game.