-
Women's physical activity grew dramatically between the 1880-1920 time period. Competitive college sports, Olympic participation and female attire are all aspects of athletics that completely changed for women. It is inspiring to see women take storm in a part of life that was believed to only be meant for men. -
Women's increasing access to higher education in the late 19th century, sparked a vicious debate about whether women had the same capacity for physical activity that men do. The general opinion of people during this time period was that competitive sports were “inappropriate”, injurious and unhealthy for women. Although they were eventually allowed to participate in many sporting events such as golfing, tennis, yachting etc... the version of sportswear was definitely not the most practical. -
Until the middle of the 19th century, swimming had largely been the activity of men, women typically “bathed ''; dipping in and out of the water. Men would swim nude and women would cover themselves head to toe. Things that were considered fashionable abroad were not acceptable in the United States. Big puff sleeves and fitted stockings were an expectation of what to wear. High necks were included to prevent sunburns. And of course, corsets were to be worn by all who could. -
The bicycle was an enormous political and cultural resource for women during the 1890s. A news article published in 1895 stated that "she is riding to greater freedom, to a nearer equality with man, to the habit of taking care of herself, and to new views on the subject of clothes philosophy." Women cycling attire departed from the laced up, ruffled fashion and switched to the new era of exposed ankles and more fitting clothing for physical exercise. -
In 1892, Sterns Brothers catalogue showed six young women yachting and tennis costumes. The outfits had no relationship to either sporting activity. The clothes did not accommodate movement and they were extremely expensive, much like the sports they were made for. -
For a brief time period, physical educators advocated for women to only be involved in interclass and intramural athletics. They promoted for women to be involved in dance, instruction of posture and hygiene because these activities would encourage cooperation instead of competition. Physical educators called this the "play attitude", where they kept control over the development of women's sports. -
Women’s physical educators opposed intercollegiate sport competitions because they were not ready to lose control over their programs. The first intercollegiate women's sporting event was a basketball game between University of California, Berkeley vs. Stanford and the University of Washington vs. Ellensburg Normal School. The goals of these games were set to “play for plays sake”, limit awards and travel time. -
The Olympic games in 1904 held in St. Louis had 617 athletes competing. Six out of the 617 athletes were women and of these were American. All six women were archers. Because of this, women received a lot of backlash because it did not make them "feminine" enough. The secretary of the American Athletic Union shared that the participation was “unwomanly” and that “women should not strain to excel, and that they certainly should not wear clothing that came above the ankle in order to play sports” -
The American Physical Education Association formed a committee on women’s athletics to draft separate rules for women’s collegiate sports such as field hockey, swimming, track and field and soccer. Later in 1921, the National Amateur and Athletic Federation created rules that made sure girls had equal standards and regulations as men sports receive. -
In 1917, Middlebury college created a constitution for the women's athletic association. This constitution included several amendments that substantially impacted women's sports at Middlebury College and advocated for equality in the athletic department. -
Throughout this 30 year period, A lot of progress was made in relation to women and athletics. Although small strides, exercise and competition became more accessible. Women appeared in the olympics, formed collegiate teams, and defied typical gender expectations. Further, the concept of sporting attire also changed throughout this period, and has continued to develop since. This was an important time period for women. -