Previously seeming shorts ‘improper clothing’, the International Handball Federation has changed its highly criticised uniform regulations for female players.
Earlier this year, the women’s Norwegian handball team was fined 1,500 euros (around $2,300) for violating the sport’s uniform regulations because they wore shorts instead of bikini bottoms; shorts were deemed ‘improper clothing’ in a statement by the International Handball Federation.
The backlash against the EHF for its sexist uniform rules was widespread, even garnering attention from pop star Pink who offered the pay the fine on behalf of the team.
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A change.org petition that called for allowing women to wear shorts to compete, as well as dropping the fine, gained more than 60,000 signatures.
The IHF has since changed its tune, although perhaps not quite to the level of equality you’d like to see. As per the updated uniform regulations: “Male athletes must wear shorts… if not too baggy, can be longer but must remain 10 centimetres above the kneecap,” while female athletes “must wear short tight pants with a close fit”.
Previously, the rules stipulated women wore bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg” and the sides of the bikini bottoms could not be more than 10 centimetres.
“With those bikinis, we were all the time checking if it’s in the right place. We were focusing on other things than the sport — and that’s not something we want,” Julie Aspelund Berg, a defender with Norway’s beach handball team, previously told CNN.
“We just want to be treated at the same level as the guys.”
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