boxing gender oppression

HOPE CHIGUDU via Beautiful Trouble

“We are as small as the hummingbird, but we are focused, effective, and unstoppable risk takers”—Boxgirls

After Kenya’s post-election violence in 2008, when many young women were sexually abused and traumatized, an organization called Boxgirls Kenya began using boxing as a strategic entry point for providing young women with a powerful antidote to the shaming, stigma, and fear generated by the oppression that they experience.

Most of the young women living in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, are children of rural migrants. Their parents are often away most of the day for work, leaving young girls to care for themselves and their siblings; the schools are poorly equipped; there are no facilities or activities for young people. All this leads to a situation where young women are vulnerable to sexual abuse.

In response, many have found in boxing a safe space to learn self-defence and an entry point for addressing issues related to sex and sexuality, leadership skills, money management, health, and well-being. Boxing has proven to be a powerful tool for equipping girls and young women to protect themselves and ensure their security while boosting self-esteem and building confidence. The initiative has even trained the first female Olympic boxer in Kenyan history, Elizabeth Andiego.

This work has been led by a community-based organization called Boxgirls Kenya, which aims to empower young women to understand the insecurities they are exposed to and to discuss strategies for dealing with them, so they can grow up free to love themselves. Boxgirls speaks movingly of the role boxing plays in the bout for a better world.

Participants consistently report increased confidence, sense of agency, critical perspective, and willingness and ability to speak out and act against discrimination. It has strengthened young women’s leadership and confidence as citizens and political actors, inspiring them to educate, organize, and empower themselves and other young women to address problems together and challenge violence in every aspect of their lives. Finally, it has become a way to influence and inform the public, parents, schools, and local leaders, and hence change public discourse, attitudes, and behaviour.