Women and sports:an invisible history

Ses 06a

Sports & SocietyXavier Carmaniu Mainadé

Sport and the rights of women

The practice of women sport is directly linked with feminism.We need to know the historical context.

Feminism (first movements)Catholicism set the role for female conduct.

French Revolution 1789: Olympe de Gouges (“Declaration of women’s and citizen’s rights).It was the women that took the Bastille and

marched to Versaille. 1848 USA first convention for women’s rights

in Seneca Falls (New York).UK Suffragettes (Emmeline Pankhurst).

Women started to vote1893 New Zealand.1902 Australia.1906 Finland.1917 Canada.1918 UK, Ireland, Germany.1919 Belgium.1920 USA.1931 Spain (just until 1939).1944 France.1946 Italy.

Women and OOGG

“The qualities of an athlete aren’t fitting for ladies”

Pierre de Coubertin

•Women coudn’t participate in first OOGG (Athens 1896).

•It was thought that practicing sports could damage the female body. (delicate women vs strong men).

OOGG 1900 Paris: 1st female participation

Only sports that didn’t require different clothing: tennis, golf, archery, fencing.

Long skirts to the ankles

Margaret Abbott (1876-1955)From Chicago.First american woman to

win a gold medal.Paris 1900 golf.

Was studying art. E. Degas & A. Rodin.

Her mother also participated (7th place): Mary Perkins Ives Abbott, writer (“Alexia”, 1889).

GOLF

“Margaret Abbott, age twenty-two, a five-foot-eleven

socialite from the Chicago Golf Club who was studying art

in Paris at the time, entered the nine-hole golf tournament

at Compiègne and won. Later, she was credited with being

the first American woman to win an Olympic medal, a gold,

although in reality all she actually received was a ladylike

gold-trimmed porcelain bowl. Somewhat surprisingly,

Margaret Abbott’s mother, a “noted novelist and editor,”

also competed – possibly the first and last mother-daughter

combination ever to do so. Abbott, in a graceful comment

that sheds light on the quality of play, later claimed that she

had won only because her French competitors “apparently

misunderstood the nature of the game and turned up to

play in high heels and tight skirts”.

[cont. ] 

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An extant photograph of the game reveals hatted, long-

sleeved, and long skirted women, golf clubs gripped and in

action. Interestingly, Abbott’s comment emphasized the

tightness of the dress, not its length. One thing remains

clear, though: the women competing were accorded neither

team status, uniforms, nor any other kind of recognition by

their respective Olympic committees; certainly the Abbotts

were ignored by the American Olympic Committee (AOC)”.

Patricia Campbell “When the girls came out to play. The birth of american

sportwear”, pg. 87

Charlotte Cooper (1870 – 1966)Tennis player from the

UK.Won Wimbledon 5 times:

1895, 1896, 1898, 1901, 1908.

OOGG Paris 1900:Female individual gold

medalist. Doubles gold medalist.

Victorian fashion: corset, long sleeves, hair done.

TENNIS

Equipo Finlandia JJOO 1912JJOO 1908 Londres: equipo

femenino gimnasia de Dinamarca hace demostración.Vestuario: vestido blanco,

medias color carne, descalzas.

JJOO 1912 Stockholmo: equipo Finlandia revoluciona vestuario: túnica hasta la rodilla, sin nada más (ni medias ni zapatos).

GIMNASIA

Natación JJOO 1912CIO permite competición

mujeres en JJOO 1912.USA no envía mujeres:

mujeres deben ser modestas y pudorosas.

Bañador utilizado: similar al vestuario de los gimnastas masculinos.

41 participantes: las nadadoras australianas ganan.

NATACIÓN

Fanny Durack & Mina WylieAustralianas.FD (1889-1956) & MW (1891-1984).Durack fue la mejor nadadora del

mundo entre 1910 y 1918.JJOO 1912 record y medalla oro.

Comit. Olímpico Australia no las deja participar JJOO 1912 ellas se pagan el viaje.

Oposición de las sufragistas de Australia (natación era un acto impúdico).en una exhibición se buscó una

orquestra de hombres ciegos para que no las vieran en bañador.

NATACIÓN

Fanny Blankers-KoenDutch athlete (1918-2004).OOGG 36 Berlín. (1940 y 1944 no OOGG because of

WWII).1946:

She had a child.6 weeks after: bronze medal 80 m.

hurdles in Europe Championships.Was criticized for not taking care

of her child.1948 OOGG London.

4 gold medals : 100, 200, 4x100 y 80 m. hurdles.

1999 the best female athlete of XXth (the male was Carl Lewis).

She is called “the flying dutch”http://youtu.be/Jtuh19OFDhE

TRACK&FIELD

JJOO 1968 México DFPor 1ª vez en la

historia de los JJOO una mujer hace el último relevo de la torcha:

Enriqueta Basilio.Atleta (n. 1948).La mejor atleta

mexicana de su tiempo.

Nadia ComaneciRomanian, 1961.The best gymnast of

all time.First to get a 10. OOGG 76 Montreal y

OOGG 80 Moscow:

5 gold medals.3 silver medals.1 bronze medal.

GIMNASIA

http://youtu.be/u9Kaf3fdxGo http://youtu.be/4m2YT-PIkEc

What about soccer?

Nettie Honeyball

London, 1874(?)..1894 newspaper

advertisement to organize a female soccer match.

Lady Florence Dixie supported the project.London, 1855.Upper class.1880 was the first war

correspondent (war in SouthAfrica)

President of British Ladies Football Club (BLFC).

Nettie Honeyball

British Ladies Football ClubPartidos de exhibición en

Inglaterra y Escocia.La prensa interpreta los

partidos como acto feminista reivindicativo.Contexto social:Nueva Zelanda

(Commonwealth) acababa de autorizar voto femenino y UK las mujeres casadas.

Está naciendo el sufragismo.

Federación Inglesa de Fútbol prohibe clubes masculinos jugar contra mujeres: peligro hacerles daño.

Otros argumentos contrarios:La práctica del fútbol

afeaba el cuerpo de la mujer (tobillos anchos), movimiento pecho podía provocar cáncer.

Vestuario no apropiado (pantalones, cabeza descubierta).

Hay equipos que juegan con falda y sombrero.

The MunitionettesDuring WWI took mens jobs. The 80% of weaponary from

the British Empire was made by women.

All the sport (male) leagues were suspended.

Women played soccer during their free time.

In 1917 a competition was organized: "The munitionette's cup".

After WWI the male leagues started up again and female competition was suspended.

Prohibición y Mundial1921 Fed. Inglesa prohíbe que

las mujeres entrenen y jueguen en instalaciones de clubes masculinos federados.

Las mujeres "condenadas" a entrenar y jugar en los parques públicos. Stoke FC juega i hace giras (juega en Barcelona 1923).

1969 se funda la Women's Football Association.

1971 Fed. Inglesa revoca prohibición de 1921.

1991 se organiza Mundial femenino (1971 en México ya se había organizado campeonato internacional).