Najmeh Tansaz is overcoming barriers and gender stereotypes 

Credit to Author: Lisa Evans| Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2023 16:45:23 +0000

When you think of boxing, it’s unlikely that you picture an Iranian-born Canadian woman, but Najmeh Tansaz is breaking down gender and cultural stereotypes as a professional boxer, coach and actress.

Growing up as a female in Iran, boxing wasn’t something anyone anticipated as a career for Tansaz, but she says she always had an interest in the sport. Her father is a karate coach and international referee.

“We always watched a lot of martial arts movies when I was a child,” says Tansaz. “I became interested in Rocky movies and I wanted to experience it.”

But being a girl in Iran made boxing a difficult, some would say impossible career path. Women are not permitted to do boxing in Iran. “Women are second priority in Iran,” she says. In a country where women are not even permitted from going to the stadium to watch sports, it’s unlikely to think an Iranian female could find a career in boxing.

“Women are not supposed to do sports like boxing or weight lifting that are meant for men because their bodies will change,” says Tansaz. While women are allowed to compete in sports, they are only permitted to compete in sports that they can cover themselves in.

Tansaz found that boxing gyms in Iran refused to teach a woman. When she was 33 years old, Tansaz snuck into a men’s boxing club and learned from a male coach. “Practicing in a men’s boxing club is illegal in Iran for women,” says Tansaz. “This was a scary and unusual situation and I had to tolerate the heavy looks of those who were there in that club which was very uncomfortable but that didn’t stop me from doing what I loved,” she says.

When she told her friends she had taken up boxing, Tansaz was ridiculed by other females who were concerned about her physical image, saying she would look too masculine or worried about her face being bruised. Despite all of the obstacles and criticism, Tansaz was convinced boxing was her passion and she refused to let her gender and gender discrimination stand in the way.

Tansaz immigrated to Canada in 2017 with her young daughter. One of the main reasons was that she wanted the freedom that women in Canada to follow their passions, such as  boxing. As a mom to a young girl, she also wanted her child to be free to pursue her own passions. “I didn’t want my little girl to go through what I went through,” she says. “I wanted my daughter to have dreams and be whoever she wants to be, to be able to ride a bike, swim or whatever sports she wanted to play.”

As soon as she settled she looked into how to get her boxing certificate from Boxing Canada.

“Even though my English wasn’t great, I was able to get my boxing certificate,” she says. She also started her own sports club. “Since I am older, it’s not as easy for me to compete. That’s why I decided to put my focus on coaching younger women and getting them ready for competitions, something that I could never dream of doing in Iran.”

Boxing wasn’t the only dream Tansaz wanted to fulfill. “I always had a passion for becoming an actress, which was very hard for a woman to pursue in Iran,” she says. While she expressed an interest in acting at a young age, her family was against the idea as in Iran the entertainment industry is considered unsafe for women. Now in Canada, Tansaz has appeared in several films and even made her own short film titled Mami, which was selected to participate in the Toronto International Film Festivals. She is currently making two films about the events happening in Iran.

In addition to her work in boxing and acting, Tansaz has been an advocate for mental health. She is a volunteer ambassador for the Coaching Association of Canada’s Mental Health is Our Sport Initiative, a program that helps make coaches in communities across Canada aware of mental health and sport tools available through the Mental Health and Sport Resource Hub.

Tansaz says while coming to Canada presented its own set of challenges, she always looked at Canada as a country of opportunity, and she has clearly found many opportunities to fulfill her dreams.

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