Women in Sport Research

- The 2012 Olympic Games in London were the first Olympics where every participating country included female athletes. They were also the first Olympics in which women competed in all sports in the program. Women have competed in the Olympics since 1900, following an all-male Games in 1896.


- Female Athletes in the 1920's

During the 1920's, many Canadian women expressed an interest in sports. However, the old fashioned views of others often got in the way of their success. Canadian women were a force to be reckoned with on a world scale. Many others enjoyed a variety of sports simply for pleasure and exercise.

Canadian women dominated sports during the Golden Age, setting many world records, winning olympic medals, and breaking barriers for generations to come. However, they did not do this without opposition. Men were reluctant to allow women to compete at the world's stages because they believed it was "unladylike", or women's bodies simply couldn't handle it.

- Canadian Women on a World Scale

Women began competing on a world scale in golf and tennis, with archery, figure skating and swimming following. However, women competed in many sports relationally. Skating, curling, bowling, golf and tennis were popular choices.

- Variety of Sports

Female athletes received a lot of media attention from sports journalists in the 20's and 30's. Many of the more popular female athletes began writing sports columns. Alexandrine Gibb covered the 1928 Olympics and introduced Myrtle Cook and Bobbie Rosenfeld to sports journalism. Whether people supported these athletes or not, they were always a hot topic.

- Media

Many reporters often ridiculed either the fact hat women were competing and achieving so much, or the fact that people thought they were incapable of doing so. Many journalists and reporters often thought that women weren't made to be athletes, and that their competitions were more or less a joke. They often reported how ungraceful sports such as rugby, hockey and basketball were, saying they were too rough and sweaty for women.

- Versatile Athletes

Until 1948, women could only compete in 14 disciplines, most of which were considered more "feminine" sports. In 1928, 277 women competed in the Olympic Games, only 9.6 percent of total participants. For the first time ever, women competed in the olympics in 1900.

- Female Olympians

However, because of the boundaries these women broke, and the great achievements made by so many Canadians, they were often well documented. The Golden Age for women produced exceptional athletes who went on to coach or write about the sports they loved. Bobbie Rosenfeld is still a well known athlete and viewed as Canada's greatest female ath
Many traditional, Victorian era views restricted women from from participating in more "masculine" sports such as basketball, hockey and anything considered sweaty or unladylike. 

This held back women from competing on a world scale in many sports. Some doctors were concerned that track and field events would have negative impacts on a women's reproductive system.

- Controversy

The Edmonton Grads dominated basketball, and Maggie MacBurney held the free throw record for men and women after making 61 consecutive free throws. The Edmonton Grads had a 7-2 record playing against men's teams. The 1928 Olympic relay team won the Amsterdam Olympics in record time. Ethel Calderwood's high jump Canadian record stood until 1958, and many of Bobbie Rosenfeld's records were held until the 1950's.

- World Records

During the 1920's, it was very common for elite athletes to compete in a variety of disciplines. Dorothy Walton competed on 14 teams for the University of Saskatchewan including tennis, field hockey, diving and badminton. Athletes today use a very different approach, usually focusing solely on one sport to achieve the best results.

- Alice Coachman Davis (November 9, 1922 – July 14, 2014) was an American athlete. She specialised in high jump and was the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.


- 1926...Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel.

- 1932...Babe Didrikson wins the team championship singlehandedly at the AAU national track and field meet.

- 1944...Swimmer Ann Curtis is the first woman to win the Sullivan Award.

- 1952...Women and men compete together in Olympic equestrian events.

- 1962...The National Women's Rowing Association is founded.

- 1975...Junko Tabei of Japan is the first woman to climb Mt. Everest.

- 1989...Chris Evert retires from the professional tennis tour and her 1,309 career match wins tops the men's and women's charts until Martina Navratilova's 1,438 match wins.

- 1992...The United States soccer team wins the first Women's World Cup.

- 2004...14-year-old Michelle Wie becomes the youngest player in a PGA Tour event.

- 2013...Serena Williams wins 78 of 82 matches—at age 31.


- Womens pay is much less than males in sport and there is so much less media coverage.