Women have faced discrimination and stereotypes for thousands of years. What many people did not know though, is that it would take only one of them to transform not only the sports industry, but the outlook on women in everyday activities. Babe Zaharias Didrikson would not only become the greatest, and first, outstanding female athlete of the 1930’s, but would also be the leader of a movement in a time where being sexist was accepted, and where men dominated every aspect of life except for cleaning the house. Babe, being a physical power-house, dominated and participated in almost every sport imaginable to the mind. Through determination, strong will, and the persistence to overcome obstacles, Babe Zaharias Didrikson changed the world of sports forever by overcoming all common perceptions of women in her time and giving hope to all competitive souls of the sports world.
From birth, Babe wanted to be the best athlete who ever lived. Her dream was born and determination set in when she sat on her father’s lap and read the 1928 headlines of the newspapers for the Olympics that year (Cayleff). From
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People used strong effort to keep women’s sports limited when they wanted to be competitive; that wouldn’t last long (Bell). Women took part in the Olympics of 1900 for the first time. Only 22 women competed and were permitted to participate in golf and tennis (Feminist Majority Foundation). Later in the 1920’s a very stereotypical view was developed towards women and their desire to participate in sports. Their participation became “unfeminine” and “selfish”, and not to mention the fact that all athletic women were accused of lesbianism (Bell). These discriminatory acts kept many women from following their desires to compete. The ones who did compete though, defied the ridicule and institutional barriers because they loved the sport and the
Babe Didrikson Zaharias is one of the greatest female athletes to date. As her full name is Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias, she was given the name of Babe because of her accomplishment of “hitting five homeruns” in a baseball game during her early years (“Babe Didrikson Zaharias Biography,” 2015). Her talents at an early age helped her excel in multiple sports, such as basketball, track and field, and golf. Her outstanding performance in basketball began when she was in high school, as she was recruited to play for one of the top basketball teams in the country. Her strong skills led her to become “an All-American basketball player” during 1930 to 1932 (Henderson, 2006).
An athlete is strong, active, and very good at sports. Mildred Ella Didrickson is the perfect example of an athlete. Born on June twenty-ninth, nineteen-eleven in Port Arthur, Texas who would have known that she would become on of the best women athletes of the twentieth century As a kid, Mildred played baseball, and got the name “Babe” because people thought she hit as well as Babe Ruth.
In the article titled Face-off on the playing field By, Judith B. Stamper explains girls have their own story of support or discrimination, success also the debate of girls be allowed to compete on boys’ sports team. First, the writer Title IX explains female athletes are been treated second-class for long enough and should pass of inequalities and biases of girls. The writer also clarifies that girls doing sports make them healthier, physically, and emotionally. Other girls that don’t play sports are less likely to use of drugs. In addition, she notes a former Stanford University basketball player Mariah says, strength and independence of things girls learn from sports, the opportunities that are changing women.
Even if a woman was good enough to play sports like a man, the female athlete “was the exception and not the rule” as track and field athlete Sophie Elliot-Lynn stated in 1925. Nationally, women’s athletics were not held in high regard by many Americans, thus making Mabel Lee’s decisions seem radical during her time with the physical education department at the
Nellie Bly showed perseverance throughout her childhood, work life, and adulthood. When Nellie was a young girl, she excelled in writing, and loved to tell stories about heroines and defeated dragons. Her childhood was anything but the fantasies she wrote about. Bly had an atrocious childhood, but she fought her way through it, portraying her true determined
Articles that spread similar stories motivate women to make the change they want in the world, whether it be in sports or elsewhere. Second, articles like Buzacott-Speer’s are important to read because they present the women’s rights movement as a global effort. This article in particular contains a great example of this type of recognition. Specifically, it includes an extensive explanation of an outreach program targeted at uplifting women in many different types of countries. Also, female runners in some underdeveloped countries have been able to change their adverse place in
Although it can be argued that unorganized sports had a greater role in Europe during the period from 1860 to 1940, organized sports had a huge role during this time period, and was much more largely perceived by Europeans of the time. The role of organized sports from 1860 to 1940 differed in definition depending on who was asked and from what country that European came from. Some believed that sports instilled a sense of nationalism in a country’s players as well as its citizens, whether the country competed in the modern Olympics or not. On the other hand, some Europeans saw greater value in the moral lessons to be learned through organized sports. On a larger note, European womankind took a large step towards equality by competing in organized
In the 1960’s the women’s rights movement was in full swing. In the article “Four Waves of Feminism” Martha Rampton states that, “In this phase, sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues, and much of the movement's energy was focused on passing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing social equality regardless of sex” (Rampton 2015). Women at the time were attempting to prove themselves equal to men in areas such as the workforce and education, places where they were thought of as inferior. After her encounter with Jock Semple, this became a large issue for Switzer. In fact, in a video entitled Katherine Switzer from the PBS series Makers: Women who make America Switzer herself states she told her trainer “...if I don’t finish this race, then everyone’s going to believe that women can’t do it, and that they don’t deserve to be here…I’ve got to finish this race” (Kathrine Switzer).Thanks to the large media coverage, her finishing the race itself was an upstart, and had a large impact in women’s equality (at least in the in the field of sports) seen by the fact that five years later women were officially allowed to compete (Kathrine
This was a way for the women to take a stand against the Olympics. Women are now allowed in the Olympics because times have
Women’s rights were a huge conflict during the early 1860’s. The Moses family went through many challenges during this movement, but their father’s death impacted them the most. Annie Oakley was a young sharpshooter who created a powerful change in the women’s rights movement by using her talents to show that women can do anything men can do. Annie was one of the most determined women in history, and made a huge impact on young women all over the world by making them feel comfortable participating a “man’s sport”. Annie Oakley was a very determined woman who faced a crippling injury to achieve her dream of making all sports a women’s sport.
It is evident that equality and equity between genders, males and females, has had its struggles. This struggle to promote fairness has been expressed through various mouvements such as from the suffragettes emerging in the late 20th and early 21st century, and the recent He for She movement to bring both genders to work together as one. Despite these efforts, in the hockey world, male domination inhibits female athletic success to reach such high level. This is displayed through history, funds and media. Earlier times imposed that women work less on their athleticism.
Gabby (late nicknamed Flying Squirrel) was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, sharing a house with 3 siblings and mom and dad, Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins. Her older sister Arielle started of her career at age six when convincing their mom Natalie to enroll Gabby in gymnastics. By eight years old gabby had won the level four all-around gymnastics title while competing in the 2004 Virginia State Championships. Tragically in 2009 Douglas suffered a fracture to her wrist. Due to her injury she was unable to compete in several events.
It’s a Thursday night and the girls volleyball team has a game. All the girls are super excited and tell everyone they encounter, “Don’t forget, volleyball game tonight at 6pm sharp!” The gym is all decorated and has streamers hanging from everywhere. The time has come for the game to start and the audience is made up of parents and siblings. A few friends of players are scattered around the stands, but the majority of our fans are parents.
If society stops to understand the struggles these women have been facing for decades will have a clearer picture of what steps to take in order to make a change in the sports industry. Men need to put their masculinity aside and advocate giving women a voice. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues women in the sport world have faced through history, wage gaps, current issues today, and to discuss findings and recommendations for future research. Title IX is a law that came into effect in 1972, this comprehensive federal law prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
“Female discrimination in sports is a common occurrence all around the world, women are seen as less than males.” (Ladrea) Equality in sports is unequal. In the 1800 women got very little attention and did not get the opportunity to play in any sport in America and all around the world. Men could go and try out for different sports teams and workout but for women they were only allowed to stay home to cook and clean. There were some events women could participate in but it could not be competitive, it was focused on getting active and staying active.