With the Great Eastern Women's Run 2024 on the horizon, Shazrina Shamsudin shares on having to defend her love for sport, and the recent shifts in the landscape for women in sport
Having played sports her whole life, Shazrina Shamsudin knows all too well the misogyny that is present in the field. The 28-year-old has been exposed to dismissive comments since she was a swimmer in primary school and it hasn't stopped since, despite earning herself a personal training certificate two decades later. Her passion for sports seems destined to be dismissed as a joke forever—an unfortunate fate shared by many women.
Back in school, swimming wasn’t the only sport Shazrina took part in. She joined the volleyball team in secondary school, before challenging herself and joining the women’s football team in Singapore Polytechnic.
Shazrina began focusing on running this year, and is now set to take on the 10km run at the Great Eastern Women’s Run (GEWR) 2024. As Singapore's only all-women race, GEWR has been empowering women for 18 years by providing a safe space for them to push their limits while championing women's causes.
Although she has competed in male-dominated sports and values the drive and skills they require—beyond just physical strength—she has still experienced moments of feeling inferior to the men she shared those spaces with.
“Admittedly, I wasn’t particularly good at football, and I sometimes felt a bit embarrassed when the women’s team had to train alongside the men’s team,” she recounted.
“The same goes for working out at the gym. Many women feel self-conscious about lifting weights, worrying that the men around them might be watching. But honestly, that’s just a mental barrier. Every sport is for everyone and gender doesn’t define your strength or ability. When you're in the zone, you don’t think too much about it. I kept reminding myself that everyone’s too focused on their own thing to be paying attention to me.”
From one woman in sport to another, Shazrina told of the types of comments she has received from her male peers over the years. Even as we laughed over our shared experiences, a subtle resentment lingered—resentment for having our love for the sport measured against a man's.
“They often assume they know more about the sport, so when they hear that women like me have participated in something they’re passionate about, it feels like a personal insult to them. While I don’t claim to be a professional at the sport, I find their comments unnecessarily dismissive, and they often pass it off as a joke,” she shared.
“The same attitude carries over to the gym. My male peers often assume they’re superior when it comes to working out, even though I hold a personal training certificate. This mentality feels outdated, and I believe men should be more open to the idea of women participating in traditionally male-dominated sports or activities.”
As a Senior Digital writer at Her World Singapore, Shazrina is familiar with and has seen firsthand the impact that media coverage can have on women in sports. In June this year, Shazrina, like many others, had her eyes peeled to Natalie Dau’s record-breaking 1000km run from Hat Yai, Thailand to The Westin in Singapore and noted its importance in redefining femininity in sports.
“In this digital age, we’re seeing more women take on more initiative in the sports scene and they are setting milestones for themselves which I find very admirable. Running a marathon is already an impressive feat itself, but having seen a woman chalk up to 1000km over the course of 12 days made me realise that everything is possible as long as you set your mind to it,” Shazrina explained.
“We are witnessing a significant shift in the landscape of sports, with more opportunities for women of all ages to participate. With more media coverage of female athletes achieving remarkable milestones, for example, Shanti Pereira at the Olympics, the media has helped spotlight women in sports.”
Looking ahead to her next challenge, the GEWR, Shazrina recalled the beginnings of her running journey and, well, why she runs despite not enjoying it all that much.
“I’ve made it a point to push myself out of my comfort zone and I wanted to run further than the usual 2.4km runs I’ve always been accustomed to. So I thought instead of attempting a 5km run, I wanted to go a step further by joining the GEWR 10km run,” she shared.
“Ultimately, it’s not about fierce competition or who crosses the finish line first. It’s about the shared experience of running together with other women and making lasting memories along the way. I see it as a celebration of community, empowerment, and the joy of movement, and that’s what makes GEWR so special.”
Read up on more inspiring stories of women in sport and the Singapore sporting community in our features section.