Change 4: Women Compete in Athletics

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1 Change 4: Women Compete in Athletics Aspect of Change Analysis of Change Causes of Change Resistance to Change Problems with Change Coping with Change Evaluating Change

2 Athletics As interest in organized sports grew at the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, athletics was seen as a male domain. Sports was seen as demanding strength, endurance and fiery competitiveness, all traits associated with men. The idea that women should become involved in such physical and emotional demanding activities was seen as ludicrous. Women were left with croquet, skating, tennis and cycling because they were viewed as more feminine and did not involve physical contact. However, as more women entered the workplace to help with the war effort, women began to show that they were able to deal with the rigors of physically demanding work. With the need to be physically fit, women began to participate in athletic activities and physical fitness was indeed encouraged. As women in the twentieth century struggled for equality, it was natural that this battle should cross into the area of athletics. Women began to participate in all kinds of sports, some traditional and others not. The 1920s saw an explosion of female athletic participation with some outstanding individual and team performances. In basketball, the Edmonton Grads began a program of the most successful women s team ever. At the Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928, Bobbie Rosenfeld won a silver and gold medal in track and Ethel Catherwood won the gold in high jump. This golden age was short lived as after the 1920s a public backlash set in and female participation in athletics was again seen as unfeminine and physically dangerous.

3 Milestones in Women and Athletics 1920's - The skimpy fashions of the '20's put a new emphasis on athletic bodies and narrow the gap between health and glamour. Advertisers, like Grape-Nuts, say, "Grandmother went bathing - girls like Molly go in to swim." The first American women's field hockey team to compete internationally is the All- Philadelphia team. Their application to the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp is denied Female swimmers become the first American women to achieve full Olympic status year old Aileen Riggin wins the first women's Olympic springboard diving competition Theresa Weld Blanchard wins the first US medal in the Winter Olympics, a bronze for figure skating. She is scolded for putting a salchow (jump) into her program! At the Summer Olympics, France's Suzanne Lenglen abandoned the customary tennis garb for a short, pleated skirt, sleeveless silk blouse, and matching sweater. She won two gold and a bronze medal and became the first female celebrity athlete Helen Meany wins the first US Springboard Diving Championship In Monaco in May, the first all-woman Olymiades Feminines Games are held The National Women's Athletic Association is organized Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle, 14, wins an international 3-mile swim in New York Bay Glenna Collett (Vare) wins the first of her record-making six US National Amateur golf championships. The Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average is named in her honour The National Amateur and Athletic Federation (NAAF) is founded, committed to boys and girls being on an "equal footing with the same standards, the same program and the same regulations." "Women as Athletes" appears in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature The Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale hold the first of four Women's Olympic games. It included 11 track and field events and drew over 2,000 fans. Six countries participated with the USA The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) adds track and field events open to women Sybil Bauer swims the 100-yard backstroke in 1 minute 17.6 seconds The first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France; figure skating is the only event for women.

4 % of US colleges have varsity sports teams for women Janet Allen is elected president of the Ladies' Ontario Hockey Association in Canada Publication of The Sportswoman magazine begins; it continues until Sybil Bauer becomes the first woman to break an existing men's world swimming record when she won the 100-meter backstroke in 1:23.2 at the Olympic Games Aileen Riggin becomes the first athlete to win Olympic medals in both swimming and diving American Helen Wills brings home gold in both singles and doubles tennis at the Paris Olympic Games Gertrude Ederle wins three medals at the Paris Olympics: a gold in the 4x100-meter relay and bronze in the 100 and 400 freestyle The first national speed skating championships for women are held by the Amateur Skating Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) sponsors the first-ever national women's basketball championship, using men's rules Elizabeth Graham, a female goalie from Queens University, wore the first goalie face mask - a wire fencing mask to protect her face during collegiate games. [In 1959 Montreal goalie Jacques Plante begins wearing a face mask in every game he plays.] American Helen Wills wins her first of eight singles tennis titles at the All-England Club from She holds the No. 1 world ranking for eight years, not losing a set from In her career, she captured a total of 31 career Grand Slam titles, including 19 in singles Sonja Henie ( ) wins the first of three consecutive Olympic gold medals (1932 and 1936) in figure skating. She was known as the "Pavalova of the Ice" for her ballerina-like approach to skating and her meticulous choreography, inspiring thousands of young women to take up figure skating. When she retired from amateur competition in 1936, she had won nearly 1,500 medals and trophies The Summer Olympic Games open gymnastics and five track and field events to women. Official rules stipulate that women wear shorts that came with in about 4 inches of the knee. American Betty Robinson becomes the first woman to win a gold medal in track and field at the Olympics for the 100-meter race Tuskegee Institute in Alabama forms one of the first women's college track teams, offering scholarships to promising women athletes, and adding women's event to their Tuskegee relays track meets. Adapted from History of Women in Sports Timeline:

5 Historical Comment Competitive events for college women increased in the early 1900s. The nature of varsity competition was in conflict with the philosophy of women's physical educators in the 1920s and 1930s, so these events were still uncommon. This philosophical conflict contributed to a lack of support for women's varsity athletics. The NAAF provided a forum for women's physical educators and leaders of women's sports to formalize their beliefs regarding competition for girls and women by issuing a policy statement of the organizations goals for women. The goals were established to "play for play's sake," limit awards and travel, protect the participant from exploitation, discourage "sensational" publicity, and place qualified women in immediate charge of athletics and other physical activities (Gerber, et al., 1974). The motto was "every girl in a sport and a sport for every girl." This position was interpreted by many as negative to competition and, as a consequence, virtually all forms of competitive sport for college women decreased in the early 1900s (Gerber, et al.). The women's suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and twentieth century resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in The right to vote for women renewed emphasis on women's freedoms. The first feminist movement resulted in modest gains for women in sports and intercollegiate competition, but these gains were negated by the depression in the 1930s. They would remain dormant for almost fifty years (Gelb & Palley, 1987). The depression left millions of Americans out of work, and the resulting campaign to keep women home and out of the work force left the women's movement for broadened equal rights stagnating. The expectations of society were that a woman's place was 'in the home,' which pushed aside the idea that there were psychological and physiological benefits to be gained from involvement in sport. This view remained largely unchanged until the events of the 1940s (Lucas & Smith, 1982). A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX Submitted by: Richard C. Bell, Ed.D., J.D. Try and imagine the scene. It's The game of basketball has been in existence for less than a year. Female students at Smith College in Massachusetts have just been introduced to the game. Their gymnastics instructor, Senda Berenson Abbott, has adapted the rules to make the sport less physically taxing for women. To ensure that her students maintain proper decorum, she has forbidden snatching the ball and dribbling it more than three times in row. Females will not be considered strong enough to play a full-court basketball game until American women have struggled to be taken seriously as athletes for more than two centuries. How would you rate their progress? Over the years, females have competed against the stereotype of being too fragile to play strenuous sports. During the 1920s, many people believed that girls couldn't handle the stress of interscholastic competition. In the 1930s, some doctors warned that high-stress sports might harm a woman's reproductive system. If you watched the movie "A League of Their Own," you know that players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League of 1943 to 1954 had to attend charm school. There, they studied etiquette and beauty routines, including how to arrange their hair in a manner that would "best retain its natural style despite vigorous play." The Olympics did not admit women athletes until Women could not compete in the marathon competition until 1984, partially because some medical experts thought that women could injure their organs by participating. Joan Benoit Samuelson won the first Olympic marathon for women in 1984 helping to shatter the myth that women couldn't run 26 miles (42 km) in a competitive time. A turning point for women's sports occurred when President Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Educational Amendment of 1972, which states that any educational program receiving Federal assistance can lose its funding if it discriminates on the basis of sex. This legislation was a great opportunity for women because it gave female athletes access to better equipment, coaches, playing fields, and travel budgets. Before Title IX, Interscholastic competition for females had been declining over the years. In 1970, only one out of 27 girls played high school varsity sports. Now, due in part to Title IX, that number is one in three. Women in Sports: The Struggle for Equality front women.jhtml

6 Perspectives How would these people react to women playing sports at an elite level? Assume one of the following roles You are a teenage girl who is a natural at all kinds of sports. You cannot stop reading and listening to coverage of the 1928 Olympics. You now have a new goal. You are the parent of three girls ages 8 to 12. They seem to be quite athletic, but you are not going to encourage them. You believe that is unladylike. You are an elite male athlete. You recently watched women compete amongst themselves in your sport. You smiled, scratched your head and walked away. You are a member of the Edmonton Grads basketball team. You are considered to be the best female team in the world. You are proud of your accomplishments. How would your character explain the cause of the change? Would your character resist the change? What problems would your character identify with the change? How would your character cope with the change in the future? How would your character evaluate the change?