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<\/p>\nTammy Beaumont has drawn attention to some of the key issues in women\u2019s sport <\/p>\n
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Height, weight, body shape, body type. On a daily basis, women are confronted by what the supposed \u2018ideal\u2019 body looks like, across all walks of life from Instagram to the cover of magazines, and England cricketer Tammy Beaumont wants to shift the narrative towards what a body is capable of, rather than what it looks like.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s sport is bigger than ever before and it will only continue to grow. But there are still articles written debating a player\u2019s choice of eyelash extensions rather than their performances, and on the biggest stage and the pinnacle of women\u2019s sport, it was a sexism debate involving the president of a football federation that overshadowed the achievements of the players themselves at the recent Women\u2019s World Cup final.<\/p>\n
However, the issues surrounding women\u2019s sports stretch far beyond the actions of one man, even if it has dominated headlines across the globe. There are problems of access and representation, including the fact that Nike \u2013 only after extended continuous pressure, finally agreed to sell Mary Earps\u2019s goalkeeper shirt.<\/p>\n
It is not just the availability of replica kit that is a problem, every player across a range of sports will have memories of ill-fitting kit and facilities designed only for men, including a lack of changing room space or bins in the toilets. <\/p>\n
Over the last few years there has been a profound change, for example England Women\u2019s football team now play in blue shorts, and women\u2019s football boots are available, but it is not the same across sports, or for those further down the pyramid.<\/p>\n
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Tammy Beaumont has enjoyed a stellar year and highlighted some of the biggest issues in women\u2019s sport <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like kit necessarily fits every body type and I think it\u2019s just one of those where I just don\u2019t really care anymore,\u201d Beaumont tells The Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some ways I kind of like that I maybe represent a demographic that isn\u2019t always seen on the cover of magazines or on an athletics track. I kind of like that maybe a young teenage girl that\u2019s got hips and curves looks at me and goes, \u2018I can play sport\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally I\u2019d be a little bit slimmer, but it doesn\u2019t matter at the end of the day, it\u2019s about how I can perform and what my body can do instead of what it looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, Beaumont has been outstanding with the cricket bat. Having once described her reinvention as version 3.0, but since being left out of the T20 World Cup squad in March, Beaumont has reached a new level. She became England\u2019s first woman double centurion during the Ashes, and hitting the highest score in the Hundred, and the first by a woman.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s cricket has reached new levels in recent years, especially after the inaugural Women\u2019s Premier League in India in the spring, where players were auctioned for eye-watering sums up to \u00a3340,000.<\/p>\n Tammy Beaumont has never had an England cap that fit her <\/p>\n One of the biggest problems facing women\u2019s sport is the drop off at around age 14, when girls stop playing. It is true across the board for several reasons, but one of the issues often spoken about is kit. Few 15-year-old girls want to have to make the choice between a boy\u2019s large or a men\u2019s medium when playing any sport.<\/p>\n The ECB\u2019s flagship competition the Hundred made new ground in some ways, kicking off the entire format with the women\u2019s competition, but issues over kit were often spoken about in dressing rooms, even when the women\u2019s game was headlining the spectacle.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean there\u2019s so many horror stories over the years of different bits of kit. I reckon I\u2019ve had one cap fit me the way that I\u2019d like it to fit me for playing, maybe two now,\u201d Beaumont said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Test caps have been specially made with a hole in the back and still in the traditional style. But \u2018one size fits all\u2019 does not fit all or \u2018fits most\u2019 \u2013 it literally does not.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see how many times a bowler has to rearrange their hair when they take their hat off every time to bowl an over. I think we haven\u2019t necessarily got that part of the game right at all.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s nothing worse than when you\u2019re trying to run around and just feel free and able to move freely and you feel restricted. Or you\u2019re going on TV, and you think \u2018if I lift my top up you\u2019re going to see my stomach, and someone will probably comment that you look fat\u2019 or the one I get is \u2018you look pregnant\u2019 and not at all.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think particularly in this day and age when everyone is so judgemental on social media it definitely is in the back of your mind what you look like instead of what your body can do and how you\u2019re playing and how you\u2019re performing.\u201d<\/p>\nRecommended<\/h3>\n
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