How Have Women Evolved in the Sports World?
How Have Women Evolved in the Sports World? Over the last century women have come a long way in the world of sports. There used to be a time when a female athlete was almost unheard of and sports involvement was a dream that young girls could never pursue. Today however, women participate in every sport, including basketball, soccer, and even football. It took hundreds of years for women to get this far and they are still struggling for equal rights (Mullims). In these next few pages that you will be reading, I am going to tell you how women have got from where they were in the 1600's to where they are today. Women were far more visible in American sporting life across time than the portraits of them in many histories would suggest. In about 1600 the earliest sportswomen were Native Americans (Struna). They participated in religious ceremonies, which called upon hours of dancing at a time. The passage from maidenhood to womanhood included physical displays and tests. Ball games were also a part of women's daily life. By the mid Eighteenth Century, the sporting experiences of women of European and African ancestries were far more varied then they had been earlier. Agricultural fairs, initiated by white farmers, planter
In between King's two strikes for honesty and women, she helped organize the first of several early 1970s professional leagues for women, the Virginia Slims tennis tour (Struna). New York had its Bloomer Girls, as did Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and many other cities. Triathlons, marathons, soccer, aerobics, weightlifting, rugby, skiing, two professional basketball leagues (although one folded in late 1998) athletic clubs, and even cheerleading are among the many sports available to women, none of which existed a century ago and few of which existed a generation earlier (Struna). Only gradually did women gain access to activities such as skating, croquet and rowing. Many women in the South raced horses and went fox hunting with their husbands (Struna). By the end of the Civil War, some women demanded and received access to colleges. They began to participate in some of the emerging modern sports. Every team had at least one male player. The change was mostly pronounced among the middle and upper-class people. The immediate impact of these changes was the movement of many different things. Many saloons, churches and even some governments were sponsoring women's sports clubs (Struna). By the 1920's, women were making great strides in the sports world. Women were now off the tracks and fields and into the stands, or out of public view all together, unless accompanied by men. The girls stayed 4 and 6 to a room to save money. This was only held for the entertainment of men and the game was called "The Blonds" played "The Brunettes.
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