Breaking the Script: When Women Play, Society Shakes
Abstract
The triumph of the Indian women’s cricket team at the ICC World Cup marks not just a sporting milestone but a profound socio-cultural moment. It symbolizes the long, painful, and often lonely journey of Indian women in sports—most of whom come from economically and socially disadvantaged sections. This essay traces that journey: from the early struggles of athletes like P.T. Usha and Karnam Malleswari to the modern-day assertion of stars like Mary Kom, P.V. Sindhu, and Shafali Verma. Yet beneath these victories lies a structural neglect—poor institutional support, financial fragility, social conservatism, and persistent gendered violence. Through a critical synthesis of history, class, and gender, this piece argues that India’s sporting success rests not on state systems but on the private grit of its poorest daughters.
“The medals that hang around their necks are not made of gold but of sweat, humiliation, and defiance.”
I. Beginnings: Running Against the Wind
1. The Early Shadows
The story of Indian women in sports began in anonymity. In the decades after Independence, sports was largely a masculine domain, associated with power and public visibility. Women’s physical participation in athletics was often perceived as unbecoming, immodest, or irrelevant to their familial roles. The first generation of women athletes, emerging from the 1950s to the 1970s, had little institutional support, no media coverage, and minimal access to professional training.
It was only in the 1980s that names like P.T. Usha, Shiny Abraham, and M.D. Valsamma began to surface on the national radar.1 Their emergence was revolutionary—not because the state nurtured them, but because they sprinted through a system that had never expected them to exist. P.T. Usha, the “Payyoli Express,” rose from a modest background in Kerala, trained on bare grounds, and narrowly missed an Olympic medal in 1984. Yet her performance at Los Angeles redefined the idea of an Indian woman athlete.
2. The Social Geography of Struggle
A curious pattern defines India’s sportswomen: most hail from rural or semi-rural, lower-middle-class, or farming families. From Haryana’s akharas to Manipur’s boxing rings, the map of women’s sports success in India coincides with zones of poverty and patriarchal rigidity.
This paradox reveals a deeper truth. Sports, for these families, is not initially a pursuit of passion—it is a pathway out of poverty. A medal might mean a government job, a stable income, or even a degree of social respectability. Yet for every Mary Kom who fought her way from a tin-roofed house in Manipur to an Olympic podium, there are hundreds whose dreams collapsed under financial and social constraints.
“They do not run toward glory; they run away from poverty.”
II. From the Margins to the Medals
1. The 1990s: The Awakening
The 1990s witnessed the slow institutionalization of women’s sports in India. The establishment of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, created a semblance of a system.2 However, women remained peripheral to its priorities. Most training centers lacked proper accommodation or security for girls, and financial stipends were meager.
Still, this era saw the rise of Karnam Malleswari, India’s first female Olympic medallist (Sydney 2000, bronze in weightlifting). Malleswari’s success symbolized both the promise and the paradox of Indian women’s sports—she came from a working-class Telugu family, trained under precarious conditions, and often competed without adequate nutrition or coaching facilities.3
2. Boxing, Wrestling, and the Rural Renaissance
The early 2000s marked a decisive shift. Sports once dismissed as “unfeminine”—boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting—began producing India’s strongest women. Mary Kom from Manipur, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat from Haryana, Mirabai Chanu from Manipur, and Lovlina Borgohain from Assam—all emerged from economically modest, socially conservative environments.
The wrestling belts of Haryana, in particular, witnessed a cultural rebellion. Despite facing social rebuke, young women trained in the same akharas as men, often defying village elders who questioned their attire or morality. The Phogat sisters, popularized later by the film Dangal (2016), are emblematic of this rebellion. Their father, Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler, faced ostracization for allowing his daughters to compete.
“In Haryana’s mud pits, patriarchy met its fiercest challengers—daughters who refused to kneel.”
3. The Expanding Horizon: Tennis, Badminton, and Shooting
By the 2010s, Indian women athletes began diversifying across global sports. Sania Mirza in tennis, Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu in badminton, and Manu Bhaker in shooting brought unprecedented visibility. Yet the glamour associated with these sports concealed the deep structural inequalities that persisted elsewhere.
Even today, the pipeline of talent remains uneven. While metropolitan athletes access private academies with sponsorships, rural girls depend on overstretched state facilities. The absence of early-age scouting, professional coaching, and psychological support continues to limit their potential.
III. The Institutional Vacuum
1. A State Without a System
Despite high-profile victories, India lacks a coherent, gender-sensitive sports policy. The National Sports Policy (2001) and the Khelo India Mission emphasize infrastructure and mass participation, but neither identifies girls at an early age nor addresses the unique social constraints they face.
There are no systematic pathways connecting school-level games with national academies. Most girls lose access to sports after adolescence—either due to lack of facilities, parental pressure, or safety concerns. Financial incentives are uneven and bureaucratic, with delays in disbursing scholarships or prize money.
2. Exploitation and Gendered Violence
The darker underside of Indian sports is sexual harassment and institutional silence. The Wrestling Federation of India scandal (2023)—where top wrestlers accused senior officials of sexual exploitation—exposed the vulnerability of even world champions. Their months-long protest at Jantar Mantar, followed by the system’s indifference, revealed how patriarchy and politics collude to suppress women’s voices in sports.
“When champions must sit on pavements to seek justice, the medal shines too bright for the nation’s conscience.”
The absence of independent grievance mechanisms, lack of gender-sensitized coaches, and fear of retaliation keep most cases buried. Sports federations are often run by politicians with little accountability, reducing athletes to pawns in power games.4
IV. Class, Gender, and the Body Politic
1. The Body as a Battleground
For Indian women, especially from lower classes, the body is both a site of resistance and regulation. Engaging in sports challenges entrenched social norms that confine women to domestic spaces. Yet the same act of participation exposes them to scrutiny and moral policing.
Sociologist Boria Majumdar notes that women athletes face a “double gaze”—first as competitors in a patriarchal structure, and second as subjects of objectification and suspicion.5 In rural belts, wearing sports gear or training with men is still stigmatized. Many parents withdraw daughters after puberty due to fear of gossip or harassment.
2. Why Do the Poor Dominate?
Ironically, India’s richest sporting talent pool lies among its poorest. Middle- and upper-class families rarely push their daughters into sports, perceiving it as an uncertain career. Conversely, working-class families see sports as a gateway to government jobs under sports quotas. This utilitarian motivation, though pragmatic, underscores the absence of a cultural valorization of sports in Indian education.
Thus, while Western or Chinese athletes are groomed through scientific programs, Indian athletes are self-made survivors—reliant on parental sacrifice rather than public policy.
“India’s champions are not products of the system—they are protests against its failure.”
V. The Unfinished Agenda
1. Building a People-Oriented Sports Policy
If India aims to be a global sporting power, it must move beyond tokenism. A people-oriented sports policy should include:
Early-age talent identification at school level through community scouting.
District-level sports academies with gender-sensitive infrastructure.
Financial and psychological support for athletes from low-income families.
Mandatory gender-sensitization and harassment redressal cells in all federations.
Integration of sports education into mainstream schooling.
Such reforms require collaboration between the Ministry of Sports, state governments, and civil society organizations.
2. Beyond the Field: Redefining Empowerment
The victory of India’s women cricketers is not just about cricket—it is a metaphor for what women from the margins can achieve when given a chance. Their triumph resonates beyond stadiums, challenging patriarchal notions of what women can or should do.
Sports, therefore, becomes an instrument of social justice—a stage where caste, gender, and class hierarchies are momentarily suspended. Each run, punch, or lift by these women asserts a new grammar of citizenship—one where equality is not granted but earned through sweat.
“They were never trained to win medals; they were trained to survive. The medal was incidental.”
VI. Conclusion: From Her Story to History
The journey of Indian women in sports mirrors the nation’s own contradictions—spectacular individual success amid systemic neglect. The victory of the women’s cricket team is both an arrival and a reminder: an arrival at global recognition, and a reminder of the millions still excluded from the game.
Until sports becomes an inclusive ecosystem rather than an accidental opportunity, India’s medals will continue to reflect individual brilliance over collective vision. The path from her story to history demands not just applause, but accountability.
Selected References
1. Majumdar, Boria. Sporting Femininities: Indian Women in Sport. London: Routledge, 2018.
2. Shekar, Nirmal. Women in Indian Sports: A Historical Perspective. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009.
3. Rajagopalan, Rajesh. “Gender, Class, and the Unequal Field: A Study of Indian Sports Infrastructure.” Economic and Political Weekly 57, no. 31 (2022): 42–49.
4. Tandon, Saumya. “The Silence of the Stadium: Gender Violence in Indian Sports.” Indian Journal of Gender Studies 30, no. 2 (2024): 211–233.
5. Government of India. National Sports Policy, 2001. New Delhi: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
6. Planning Commission of India. Working Group on Sports and Physical Education, 12th Five-Year Plan Report (2012–17).
7. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Report on Women and Sports in India. Government of India, 1997.
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