THE ADVENT OF MODERN WOMEN'S SPORTS



THE ADVENT OF MODERN WOMEN'S SPORTS

Discussion

Another dramatic change brought by Title IX was in girls' participation in interscholastic sports: in 1971 girls were 7.5% of high school athletes, and 25 years later, they were 39%. This represented an eightfold increase, although girls' sports often lag in prestige and fans. Nevertheless, taking to the field and the court has been an important development and yardstick of gender equality, even though scholars debate what lessons are gained through competitive athletics. The positive outcomes of Title IX are indisputable regarding participation numbers. More women compete in sport every year as the participation numbers at both the interscholastic and intercollegiate levels continue to grow.

In the modern era, Sport and physical activity for girls and women is experiencing phenomenal growth. According to Carpenter: In 2008 women's participation in sport reached its highest levels within the nation's intercollegiate athletics programs. The increase in participation by girls and women has been a result of second generation of Title IX beneficiaries, legal decisions supportive of Title IX, societal acceptance of females as athletes, improved and increased media coverage, and advocacy efforts of individuals and organizations.

The history of women in the Olympics is that of the progressive integration into a world that has historically been men, as was the case with other universal fundamental rights, such as the right to vote, which were gradually introduced in different Western countries until well into the twentieth century. In the Olympics of ancient women were not allowed to participate and even its presence as an assistant to the competition was vetoed.

When preparation for the modern Olympic Games began to take shape in the late 1890s, the Olympic Movement was led by Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin, greatly influenced by Englishman William Penny Brookes, reignited the Olympic spirit and helped establish the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite his humanistic approach to many things, Coubertin was widely recognized as the founder of the modern Olympic Movement and proselytizer of the concept of Olympism, staunchly opposed women's participation in the Olympic Games. On several occasions, he significantly limited access for women to the Olympic program. In one of his more misogynistic statements, Coubertin said:

Women have, but one task that of the role of crowning the winner with garlands. In public competitions, women's participation must be absolutely prohibited. It is indecent that spectators should be exposed to the risk of seeing the body of a woman being smashed before their eyes.

However, Coubertin could not completely stem the tide of women's participation. The history of women athletes took a giant step as legendary as important. It was in 1968 when the Mexican Enriqueta Basilio became the first female who carried the Olympic torch and lit the cauldron and with it, the flame that lit the XIX Olympic Games held in Mexico City. It was on October 12 that year, a day when many barriers were broken by this simple gesture of a woman stood at the ...