What Happened : British-Pakistani woman Haseeba Abdullah is England’s first hijab-wearing boxing coach and has now been named as a “Hometown Hero” for the Commonwealth Games scheduled to take place next year in Birmingham.
England’s first hijab-wearing boxing coach #HaseebaAbdullah is named as a Hometown Hero for the Commonwealth Games taking place next year in Birmingham. She has also played a huge role in changing official dress code rules to allow women to wear a scarf and full-length clothing. pic.twitter.com/dW3HXaqyo9
— TheCivilEyes (@TheCivilEyes) May 23, 2021
The Context: Haseeba is a boxing coach at Windmill Boxing Gym in Smethwick. She had been ambitious about boxing from a very young age and pursued it regularly as an after-school activity. Her parents are originally from Gujrat, and for some time she was unable to compete and evolve as a boxer since she was not permitted in tournaments while clad in hijab as at that time, women were not allowed to wear a hijab by the boxing associations. Hailing from a traditional Muslim, Pakistani family, wearing the boxing kit was not an option for her either. The rules about the boxing dress code were changed by International Boxing Association (AIBA), in 2019. Haseeba played a significant role in changing the official dress code rules to allow women to wear a headscarf and full-length clothing when training or competing as she conducted thorough research to prove that wearing a hijab or being covered in any way didn’t affect a woman’s athletic ability.
The Impact: Haseeba has inspired many girls and allowed them to see that women have a place in boxing and can compete on their own terms, without having to relinquish their moral choices. Other boxing clubs and fellow boxing coaches are also trying to create women-only spaces for their local areas as a result.