Recently, I watched a re-creation of a woman getting dressed for tennis in the 1880s. An elegant lady was required to spend 12 minutes garbing herself in impractical layers of pure white garments before she was fi nally ready to step out onto the court.
Which got me thinking: have we really moved on as far as we think we have when it comes to sportswear and menstruation? In July last year, protesters urged Wimbledon organisers to drop its restrictive all-white dress code. Following the ruckus, which made headline news, the rules were (generously) relaxed to allow players the option of wearing coloured undershorts.
This year, Nike finally heeded Beth Mead’s plea for darker shorts, which were issued to the men’s team the previous summer. “It’s very nice to have an all-white kit, but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s the time of the month”, the Lioness and Arsenal forward explained. England’s Women’s Rugby League team continue to wear all-white shorts, having struck a partnership with period sportswear brand Iceni. “It was important that they could wear the iconic all-white kit”, explained Head Coach Craig Richards. “It shows young girls that there is no need for periods to distract them from the enjoyment sport brings”, he added.
It’s very nice to have an all-white kit but sometimes it’s not practical
Seven in ten girls avoid being active when they’re on their period. The main barriers? Fear of leakage and self-consciousness. And of course, periods bring problems that outlast PE. 60% of respondents to the BBC’s Elite British Sportswomen Survey said their performance had been aff ected by their period, and that it caused them to miss training and competitions. “Periods are a standard part of life”, notes Lacuna Sports founder Leigh Burns, who recently launched leakproof pants for women cricketers. “There is not a woman on the planet who has not had this risk in the back of her mind during her cycle. Mitigating the concern enables women to focus on their game”, she explained.
So do we really have to protest every time we need archaic rules around kit to change? Or can brands and organisations start treating women with the respect they deserve, no matter the time of the month?
