It has taken time but women in India are now unstoppable

Organised women’s cricket in India began not under the auspices of the dominant BCCI but through dedicated efforts of pioneering individuals

- DEEPA GAHLOT

It's different now, but many women over the age of 40 would remember when they tried to participate in team sports like cricket, hockey or football, they were either shooed away by the boys or scolded by their parents for wasting time with “uchhal kood” (jumping about).

Sports were not considered ‘suitable’ for girls, particularly after puberty, and making a career out of playing a ‘game’ was not even in the realm of possibility. Which is why the Indian women's team winning the World Cup is such a big thing—not just the victory, but what it will do for the still struggling women’s sports in the country.

There were a few female sportspersons over the years—Nilima Ghose is widely considered to be India’s first female sports star. She was part of the first female team, which included Mary D'Souza, to compete at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

The one who brought the spotlight to women in sports is PT Usha, known as the “Queen of Indian Track and Field” and the “Payyoli Express”. She dominated Asian track events for nearly two decades and became a household name.

When cricket played by men dominates the Indian sports scene, everything else takes a backseat, and women have to stand even further back in the queue for recognition and reward. Still, the really persistent and hardworking female athletes, like Karnam Malleswari (Weightlifting), Mary Kom (Boxing), the Phogat sisters and Sakshi Malik (Wrestling), PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Sania Mirza (Tennis), Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics), and Hima Das (Athletics) have broken through the indifference. More often than not, it’s not the women from privileged families with access to funds and coaching who are the winners, but the ones who had to struggle through financial problems and snide comments from society and the particularly regressive sneering, “Who will marry this girl?”