The growth of women’s sport is very much apparent and evident. It’s not often we see women sport stars, particularly women of colour, on major magazine covers apart from obvious big names like Serena Williams, Simone Biles and Li Na. Even they have not graced sufficient magazine covers in comparison to their sometimes athletically less-than white counterparts.
More people are taking note of more women making waves and it’s wonderful to see a cricketer such as the incomparable Indian opener Smriti Mandhana grace the cover of Vogue India for their December 2022 edition.
I’d be remise if I did not tip my hat to the way in which Akanksha Kamath respectfully covered Mandhana’s story and how Vogue India (The Photographers and Stylist) didn’t buckle to the decades living of over-sexualizing female athletes are. The sexually suggestive pose to the skin exposure. The way in which Smriti is represented seems like a true representation of who she is and not an editor’s idea of how a women in sport should be portrayed.
In this Dec 2022 issue, Mandhana’s speaks about how her parents supported her dream from the tender age of 4. She received second-hand instruction from her brother, Shravan, who was training as a professional player. Her mom single-handedly taking charge of her nutrition and food plan while her father was responsible for programming and training schedule.
“I think whatever I am is because of them. When I started playing it was not as common as it is now. Now we are on TV and it is easier for girls to go up to their parents and say that they want to play cricket.”
The article adds that her parents protected her from judgemental relatives “I never felt like I was being ‘allowed’ to play. It was just a normal thing to do and anybody could do it, whether girl or boy.”
The India vice-captain has called on more women to support the game to pique the interest of more young girls but to also grow the game. “Even now, in stadiums, we have a crowd which is 80 per cent men. I’m not saying that men should not come to our games, but I am urging our women to participate in sports. Even if you don’t understand it or like it, just watch it. That’s how things will really change.”
In most sports people like to make absurd comparisons, “Serena Williams should play Roger Federer, while some female athletes are named after male athletes in the same sport i.e Smriti being called “Lady Virat”. “It’s just a different game. You don’t have to put us in the same category. Initially, when tennis was developing as a sport, there were comparisons made between the serve rates of different players. Now it has reached a point where Serena Williams is appreciated just as Roger Federer is in his own right. It’s time for cricket to also reach that place.”
Nothing soothes the soul more at this time of the year than to see the slow but persistent shift in the right direction in the recognition of women in sport, women of colour in sport. Optimism for 2023 is justifiably very high.
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