Struggles of Women in Sports

Written By: Nevethan Balendra

The struggles of women in sports and how they overcame them:

Only in the past half century have women become more socially accepted in the sporting world. In the 1800s and 1900s, they were restricted to being a part of small clubs that weren’t competitive and only recreational. When feminism arose with the Civil Rights movement, the elimination of sexual discrimination was the target and a newly advocated platform read “…the right of women to be educated to their full potential equally with men be secured by Federal and State legislation.” With similar types of changes being pushed forward, many countries such as Canada and America slowly started to change.

The Olympics can be looked at as a reference to the evolution of women in sports. In the 1900s they were limited to few sports; those of which were much less physically intensive. Tennis became one of the most popular sports among females and slowly other sports caught on. Today all around the world society has accepted women to participate in various sporting activities.

There have been many women who have changed sport such as, Billie Jean King and Margaret Court to Canada’s very own Hayley Wickenheiser and Clara Hughes. They have helped define the sport they competed in, and showed the world that the skill and talent they had were no less than their male counterparts.

We know that this positive change will continue growing and would like to see women from all backgrounds get involved – not only to get fit and have fun, but to also help change the world one athlete at a time.

Here is a small timeline that outlines a few significant events for women in sports:

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/significant-events-for-women-in-sports

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womeninsportstimeline2.html

Struggles of Women in Sports

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