1 Women’s Sport Through the Lens of History C H A P T E R Ellen J. Staurowsky, EdD, Drexel University Chapter ??

Learning Objectives How Victorian ideals of female inferiority and male superiority have shaped sport in the present day How the lived experiences of women and girls in sport often do not match the popular medical and scientific narratives that have been used to justify the limited participation of female athletes in formal sport activities (continued)

Learning Objectives (continued) How the past continues to influence opportunities available to women in sport

Women’s Education in the Late 1800s Men assigned to the public sphere and women the domestic sphere, so education for women intended to prepare them for their roles as wives and mothers

Beliefs About Women and Education Too much education rendered a woman “manly, indelicate, and unsexed” (Sack & Staurowsky, 1998) Women who were too smart were thought unmarriageable As late as 1930s, 80% of American school districts employed no married women Sack, A., & Staurowsky, E.J. (1998). College athletes for hire: The evolution and legacy of the NCAA amateur myth. Westport, CT: Praeger Press. (continued)

Beliefs About Women and Education (continued) Women were to be seen and not heard In a school setting, even when a woman was at the top of her class, her valedictory address would have to be delivered by a man Progressive Oberlin College would wait two decades after admitting women before a woman was permitted to speak at a graduation

Perceived Negative Effects of Women’s Education Brainwork eroded women’s health Believed to cause a litany of illnesses including neuralgia, dyspepsia, hysteria, and other derangements of the nervous system

The Bicycle a Threat to Femininity Women warned against riding a bike for fear of acquiring a “bicycle face” Women discouraged from wearing comfortable clothing while riding a bike Women were thought to be more vulnerable to acquiring bad social habits as a result of bicycle riding (using slang, going out without being accompanied by a male)

Victorian Ideas About Women’s Health and Physical Activity Women were born with a limited amount of vital energy To fulfill her role as a mother and to bear children, a woman needed to expend her energies in the right way, not in frivolous activities such as sport Rigorous physical activity for women was seen as an unnecessary strain

Women’s Physical Education and the Fair but Weaker Sex Women’s physical education developed to address public suspicion that women would collapse from the pressure of academic work Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician in the United States, identified exercise for women as the first law of life As more women became college students, greater need for female physical educators

Liberating Women From Fashionable Clothes Women’s fashion was an impediment to safe and fun sport participation Women in the late 1800s might wear as much as 20 pounds of clothes (15 layers of crinolines and petticoats, skirts skimmed the floor, starched camisoles) Dress reform movement: free women from the trap of their clothes Replacing corset with bloomer costume

Introducing Women’s Basketball Senda Berenson introduced basketball at Smith College in 1897 Adapted Naismith’s rules for women by dividing court into three sections, restricting the number of dribbles, length of time allowed to hold the ball, rules against aggressive play Clara Baer at Sophie Newcomb College: even more restrictive game called basquette