Eimear Ryan: Skort the final frontier in Irish women’s sportswear

I’ll never know how this skirt-shorts combo has survived until 2021 in camogie and hockey, having no obvious function other than making us look feminine and unthreatening as we charge around the pitch with our sticks

Germany’s Pauline Schäfer wears a unitard in the Women’s All-Around Final of the Artistic Gymnastics ‘Die Finals 2021’ in Dortmund. Schäfer had a hand designing the garment, in a world where women’s sportswear still tends to prioritise aesthetics over utility.  Picture: Matthias Hangst/Getty

Now that we’re allowed out again, it’s time for the resumption of my favourite social phenomenon: the Ladies’ Compliment Exchange. In the queue for the loo, women out for the night will often pass the time by praising each other’s outfits. There are two common responses to such a compliment: “Penneys, hon” or “Thanks, it has pockets!”

This is because — tragically — the presence of pockets in women’s clothing is far from a given. Instead of expecting them as a baseline, we feel privileged to have them. Dig into the history of pockets, and you’ll uncover a fascinating gender politics. While pockets became standard in men’s clothing in the 17th century, the same didn’t happen for womenswear. Depending on who you ask, there are different reasons for this: women had no independent access to money or property, so weren’t regarded as needing a facility for carrying coins or keys; bulgy pockets would interfere with a woman’s silhouette; women were assumed to carry a purse or bag; putting one’s hands in one’s pockets is unladylike.