Women in Sports

The History of Women in Sports Throughout history, women have fought for equality against men, significantly in the last century, as women have taken on greater, and more equal, roles in society. There have been several fronts on which women have fought for equality and one of those cases is in sports. Sports history is filled with men popularizing athletics such as baseball, basketball, boxing, football, track, and many other sports. It is quite surprising to many that women, as well as men, should take credit for their effort in athletic competition. Women have been known since the 19th century to take part in sporting events when, back then, they were supposed to be confined to more prim and proper activities. Historically, a woman’s duties were to take care of the family, do all the domestic work, and basically enslave themselves to their husbands. Because of this stereotype, it was highly frowned upon that women were taking on a masculine role by participating in the sporting world. Throughout the history of human existence, athletic competition has been regarded as an exclusively masculine affair. In ancient times, athletic competitions were held among warriors to prove their fighting prowess or otherwise demonstrate their virility. The exclusively male origins of competitive sport carried over into the Olympics, where women were not allowed even to watch competitions, much less compete. However, a separate women 's athletic event, the Heraea Games, was eventually developed. The ancient Heraean Games were dedicated to the Greek goddess, Hera. These games where the first sanctioned women’s athletic competition to be held in the stadium of Olympia, which was the venue used to host the Ancient Olympic Games. Records of the Heraean Games date as far back as the 6th century BC. Like the men 's competition, Heraean Games originally consisted of foot races only. The Heraea champions won olive crowns, cow or ox meat from the

Cited: 1) http://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/women.htm 2) http://womenshistory.about.com/od/jackiejoynerkersee/p/joyner_kersee.htm 3) http://www.essortment.com/bobby-riggs-vs-billie-jean-king-44759.html 4) http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/05/woods-beckham-jordan-biz-sports-cx_lr_0806athletes.html 5) “A League of Their Own” (1992) - Directed by Penny Marshall