NZ gymnasts can now wear shorts over their leotards – why is this a big deal for female athletes?

Recent changes in New Zealand sporting dress codes have led to a collective sigh of relief in women’s gymnastics. No longer will competitive gymnasts be penalised for accidentally revealing their underwear while performing.

Indeed, Gymnastics New Zealand (GNZ) has finally modernised its uniform rules, allowing girls and women to wear shorts or leggings over their leotards – just like their male counterparts.

This timely rule change builds on the past few years of global advocacy in which some sportswomen have voiced concerns about how their outfits impede their movements and their confidence.

In 2021, there were also dress code protests by female performers at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Switzerland. German gymnasts donned full-body suits, in response to the ongoing objectification and sexualisation of women in sport.

It was no coincidence that the German gymnasts’ decision to cover up followed one of the biggest sexual abuse scandals in sports history – in the United States, 156 women gave testimonies at the 2018 sentence hearing for the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, who was jailed for up to 175 years.

Other gymnasts were prompted to speak out across the world.

In the United Kingdom, multiple elite British gymnasts exposed the emotional and physical trauma they endured at the hands of their coaches. More than 400 submissions by traumatised UK gymnasts were subsequently documented in the 2022 Whyte Review, exposing widespread physical, emotional and sexual abuse by coaches.

In New Zealand, former Blenheim Gymnastics Club coach Gregory Pask pleaded guilty in March 2024 to more than 60 sexual offence charges against girls under his tutelage.

Recent research involving more than 3,000 girls across eight countries confirmed sports uniforms are an important influence on girls’ engagement in physical activity. If girls experience flexible uniform policies, it is possible to keep them active for longer.

Source: NZ gymnasts can now wear shorts over their leotards – why is this a big deal for female athletes?

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