Women's Sport from 440 BC to Present

"The solemn periodic manifestation of male sport based on internationalism, on loyalty as a means, on arts as a background and the applause of women as a recompense." -- Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games.

Since Baron de Coubertin uttered those words in the late 1890's, the world has changed almost beyond recognition. Instead of merely applauding the achievements of others, women now wish to share the spotlight.

Introduction

Consider that no women took part in the first modern Games in 1896. Today the balance remains weighted in favour of men, but it is tilting. At the XXVIth Games in Atlanta,   for example, 97 of the 271 events were open to women, with 11 contested by both genders; 3,626 of the 10,629 athletes were women.  Of the 307 Canadian athletes who competed in Atlanta, 154 were women and 153 were men,making this the first Canadian Olympic team ever to consist of more women than men, an impressive shift in a short time.

The movement towards this statistical improvement has been slow and has by no means been a certainty. Many barriers to full participation remain on the world stage, although Canada can point to a measure of progress and some inspiring milestones.

Women and Sport:  BC

1500 BC

Female bull jumpers in Crete defy death.

1000 BC

Atalanta out-wrestles Peleus; the women-only Herean Games take place in Greece.

440 BC

Kallipateira sneaks into the Olympic Games and men devise the first sex test to keep women out.

396 BC

Princess Kyniska of Sparta is the first female Olympic champion, winning the chariot race.

Women and Sport:  AD, 1424 - 1929

1424
Madame Margot outplays Parisian men at jeu de paume, an early version of tennis.
1805
Sophie Armant Blanchard solos in a gas-powered balloon.
1849
Bloomers are invented by feminists in New York.
1900
Women are included on the program of the modern Olympic Games competing in golf and tennis; tennis player Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain becomes the first woman Olympic champion.
1900
Canadian women climb the Rocky Mountains.
1905
Over the next 35 years, the Edmonton Grads win 502 of 522 basketball games and four world championships.
1919

Suzanne Lenglen leaves her corset in Nice and makes her Wimbledon debut 1922

The Fédération sportive féminine internationale organizes the first Women's Olympic Games in Paris; in one day alone, 20,000 spectators watch 18 world records broken in track and field.

1923
The Edmonton Grads win their first of 17 Canadian championships.
1926
Alexandrine Gibb spearheads the formation of the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada (WAAF) to initiate international competition for Canadian women; the second Women's Games are held in Gothenburg, Sweden, with entries from 10 nations.
1928

Florence Bell, Myrtle Cook, Fanny (Bobbie) Rosenfeld and Ethel Smith win the 400 yd relay at the Amsterdam Olympic Games; Ethel Catherwood takes gold in the high jump;

Several women collapse at the end of the 800 and the event is declared dangerous to women and banned until 1960;

Dorothy Prior is the first Canadian woman to compete in Olympic swimming events;

Staging the only feminist boycott in Olympic history, the British women stay away from the Games to protest the lack of women's Olympic events.

 

Women and Sport: 1930 - 1969

1930
The third Women's Games are held in Prague.
1932
Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic.
1934
The fourth and last Women's Games are held in London, England.
1936
The Women's Games are cancelled in exchange for a nine-event Olympic program for women.
1938
WAAF (Ontario) starts the first coaching development scheme for women.
1939
Dorothy Walton wins the All-England title, badminton's equivalent of a world championship.
1948
Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands is the first mother to be an Olympic gold medallist.
1950
Track, basketball, ice hockey and softball star, coach and sport columnist Bobbie Rosenfeld is named Outstanding Canadian Woman Athlete of the Half Century.
1948
Barbara Ann Scott wins the Olympic figure skating title.
1954
Marilyn Bell becomes the first person to swim across Lake Ontario.
1956
Skier Guiliana Chenal-Minuzzo of Italy is the first woman to take the Olympic oath at the Opening Ceremony; Marilyn Bell is the first woman to swim the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
1961
Doris Plewes puts the finishing touches to Bill C-151, which becomes the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act.
1962
The Fitness and Amateur Sport Act becomes law.
1966
Sex tests (gender verification) for women are adopted in international sport.
1968

Enriqueta Basilio becomes the first woman to light the Olympic flame; sex testing of women is introduced at the Mexico Games;

Sandra Post is the first Canadian woman golf professional to win an American tournament.

Women and Sport: 1970-1989

1970
The Royal Commission on the Status of Women releases its report.
1971
Debbie Brill becomes the first woman to high jump six feet; she will dominate her sport throughout the decade.
1973
Snooky Seely sets a world record in shotput at the Stoke Mandeville Games.
1974
The first National Conference on Women in Sport is held in Toronto and leads to the creation of Sport Canada's Women's Program.
1975
The United Nations declares International Women's Year; women tennis players win pay parity at the US Open.
1976
Rowing and basketball become Olympic events for women.
1980

The first Female Athlete Conference is held at Simon Fraser University and becomes the catalyst for the founding of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS);

Fitness and Amateur Sport establishes the Women's Program.

1981

Abby Hoffman is the first woman to be elected to the executive of the Canadian Olympic Association (COA); later that year she becomes the first woman to be appointed director of Sport Canada.

Formation of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Education (CAAWS)

1982
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender.
1984
The first women's Olympic marathon is won by Joan Benoit of the United States; women's cycling, synchronized swimming, and rhythmic gymnastics are added to the Olympic calendar.
1986
Sharon Wood is the first Canadian woman to scale Mount Everest.
1987
Betty Baxter founds the National Coaching School for Women.
1988

Justine Blainey wins the right to play in the all-male Ontario Hockey Association; the Ontario Human Rights Commission rules that girls and women cannot be barred from competing in male sports and on male teams;

tennis returns to the Olympic Games although fewer women than men will be allowed to compete;

Carol Ann Letheren is the first woman to be chef de mission of a Canadian Olympic team.

1980s
Marathon swimmer Vicky Keith swims across all five of the Great Lakes.

 

Women and Sport: 1990's

1991

Judy Kent is the first woman to be selected as chef de mission by the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada.

Carol Anne Letheren is the first woman to be elected president of the COA; later that year she becomes the sixth woman named to the International Olympic Committee.

1992

Equity and accessibility for girls and women in sport are targeted in the Minister's Task Force Report;

Judo becomes an Olympic event for women; Canadian women rowers win three gold medals and one bronze at the Barcelona Olympics;

The Canada Games Council adopts wide-ranging gender equity principles.

Canada's women's wheelchair basketball team capture the gold medal at the Stoke Mandeville Games and at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona.

1993

Gender balance is incorporated into the guiding principles of the Canadian Sport Council, the new collective voice of Canada's sport community;

The International Olympic Committee adds women's soccer and women's triple jump to the Olympic calendar.

Wheelchair track star Christine Harder is the world champion and world record holder in 400m and 800m.

1994
Biathlete Myriam Bédard becomes the first Canadian woman to win two Winter Olympic gold medals with victories in 7.5km and 15km at Lillehammer.
The International Olympic Committee confirms that women's ice hockey and women's and men's curling will join the Winter Olympic program in 1988 at Nagano, Japan.
The first international conference on women and sport with 280 delegates from 82 countries, including 11 Canadians, produced the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport, providing the principles that should guide action to increase female involvement at all levels and in all functions and roles.
The Commonwealth Games Women in Coaching Program gave 10 Canadian women international coaching experience and culminated in coaching positions for each at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
Judy Kent becomes the first woman to be elected president of the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada.
1995
With the addition of women’s soccer and softball to the calendar of the 1996 Olympic Games, women will participate in more sports than ever before; the IOC announces its intention to move quickly to promote “the presence of women within sport and its technical and administrative structures”
1996

3626 women compete at the Olympic Games in Atlanta — 32 per cent more than in Barcelona — in part due to the recognition of women’s soccer, softball, and triple jump as Olympic events;

The athletes on Canada’s Olympic team number 154 women and 153 men; Molly Killingbeck is the first woman to coach Canada’s 4 x100m men’s relay team at an Olympic Games;

Alex Greaves establishes a milestone in British horse racing history becoming the first women to ride in the English Derby;

The IOC holds its first World Conference on Women and Sport;

Canada’s women’s wheelchair basketball team repeats as Paralympic champions — the team has recorded 25 consecutive wins since 1990;

Egyptian handball player Hanan Eid is forced to take a sex test at the All-African Games to prove she is not a man;

Women’s pole vault is on the program of the European Indoor Track Championship, the first time the event has been held a a major international championship

1997

The Central Board of Basketball’s international body agrees to propose that at least five women join its 20-member board;

The IOC extends the women’s field hockey tournament at the 2000 Games from 8 to 10 teams, moving closer to the men’s total of 12 teams; the IOC approves new women’s events for Sydney but does not raise the limit on the numbers of athletes competing; when women first played at the Games in 1980, six teams were in the tournament;

For the first time, 50 per cent of the chef de missions at the Canada Games are women;

Kayaker Caroline Brunet becomes the first woman to win three gold medals at the world championships

Anita DeFrantz of the United States first woman to be elected a Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee
Gianna Angelopoulos is the first female president of a bid commitee to win the right to host an Olympic Games, Athens 2004
1998
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved new women's events for the 2000 Games in Sydney, but will not expand the limit on the number of athletes competing. Francois Carrard, the IOC director general, said that women's skeet and trap shooting and the duet in synchronized swimming were added to the schedule. Carrard stressed that the number of athletes would still be within the 10,000 approved as the maximum for the Games.
The IOC has expanded the Women's Hockey competition from 6 to 8 teams for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City - Radio Canada, June 3, 1998
Ila Borders becomes the first female pitcher to start a minor league baseball game -
  The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) announces that women's pole vault and hammer throw will be added to the 1999 World Championships and 2000 Olympics.
  Women’s Hockey makes it debut at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
1999 The National Women's Hockey League (1999-2007) is created.
  A settlement is reached in the case of Morrison vs. City of Coquitlam. A series of principles and initiatives were created including appointing a Gender Equity Committee and Gender Equity Coordinator for the City of Coquitlam and establishing a Gender Equity Fund.
Women and Sport: 2000 -
2000 Peggy Bouchet, of France, becomes the third woman to row solo across the Atlantic.
2001 Ellen MacArthur, of England, becomes the fastest woman and the youngest person (age 24) to sail round the world single-handedly in a nonstop race.
2002 Clara Hughes becomes the fourth person, second woman, and only Canadian to win medals in both Summer and Winter Olympic events.
  Aileen Eaton, of the United States, becomes the first woman to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
2003 Canadian Olympian, Hayley Wickenheiser, becomes the first woman to score a goal in a men's pro hockey game while playing for Finland's Kirkkonummen Salamat.
2004 Women's wrestling makes its debut at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.
  Sweden's Gunilla Lindberg becomes the second woman in history elected vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
  Forty-four percent of the Olympic athletes competing in Athens were women. Only five countries sent no women athletes, compared to 12 countries in Sydney in 2000 and 26 countries in Atlanta.
2005 The French Open commits to equal prize money for the men's and women's championships.
2006 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board approves new quotas for the 2008 Beijing Games. With the new numbers, there will be there will be 128 more female athletes in Beijing than in Athens.
  At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Cindy Klassen becomes the first and only Canadian to win 5 medals in a single Olympic Games.
  The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) commits to equal prize money for male and female competitors.
  Cassie Campbell becomes the first woman to do colour commentary on a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
2007

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopts a Consensus Statement on "Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport". This document defines the problems, identifies the risk factors and provides guidelines for prevention and resolution.

  Wimbledon commits to equal pay for male and female champions.
2008 Tae Kwondo fighter Sara Khoshjamal, 20, becomes the first Iranian woman to compete at an Olympic Games.
2008 Female ski jumpers from Canada, the United States, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Norway sue the Vancouver organizing committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics for not allowing women to compete in ski jumping.
2009 Nova Scotia holds its first ever all-women's baseball coaching clinic.
  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board confirms women's boxing will be added to the schedule for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.
2010 The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations changes its gender equity policy to allow females to play on male sport teams even when a female team exists. This change comes in response to Courtney Greer bringing her case all the way to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
  Oh Eun-sun, of South Korea, becomes the first woman to climb the world's 14 highest mountains.
  The Sydney Scoreboard, a measurement tool that will chart the number of women on sports boards globally, is created as a legacy of 5thInternational Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) conference.
  Cammi Granto of the US and Angela James of Canada become the first women elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
  The first ever PRIDE houses were held in Whistler and Vancouver during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  The LPGA votes to allow transgender women golfers a chance to play on the tour by eliminating the "female at birth" clause from the LPGA's constitution.

 


Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity
N202 - 801 King Edward Avenue
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Phone: 613-562-5667
Fax: 613-562-5668
Email: caaws@caaws.ca