You know a great way to respect and empower women?

Charge them a fine for wearing shorts that are more than 4 inches long:

Yes, this is a real thing that happened.

The Norwegian women's beach handball team (not the volleyball team) was fined the equivalent of $1,760 for wearing athletic compression shorts instead of revealing bikini bottoms.

From Sky News:

The team asked the European Handball Federation for permission to play in shorts ahead of the European Championship, but were told the breaches of the rules were punishable by fines.

"Women should wear a bikini where the top should be a tight-fitting sports bra with deep openings at the arms," the official International Handball Federation rules read.

"The bottom must not be more than 10 centimeters on the side."

If you're wondering, men get to wear loose-fitting clothes as long as they aren't "too baggy."

Meanwhile, regulations for men's uniforms say the participants must wear "tight-fitting tank tops" and shorts "that are not too baggy".

At first, the team was going to be fined roughly $60 per player for violating the rules, so they acquiesced and played in bikinis.

At their bronze final match against Spain, however, they decided to protest the rules by wearing compression shorts and were fined.

Ah, the modern age of athletics. Remember: It's perfectly okay for a biological male to compete in and dominate women's sports – you know, as long as he also wears a revealing piece of beach underwear to sexually tantalize the spectators!