History of Women Sports

The competition of women in sports has been frowned upon by many societies in the past. The antecedents of English organized sport in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to paternalism that tended to discourage women's participation in sport, for example, no women who competed officially at the Olympic Games in 1896. The twentieth century recorded Great advances in the participation of women in sport, although the participation of women as amateurs, administrators, officials, coaches, journalists and athletes remains generally lower than that of men. The increased participation of girls and women in sport has been influenced in part by the feminist movements and the rights of women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. In the United States, student participation in sports was significantly strengthened by the Title IX Act in 1972, which prohibited gender discrimination in all aspects of any educational environment that used federal financial aid.
The pressure from sports funding agencies has also improved gender equality in sports. For example, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Leander Rowing Club in England had been male establishments only since its founding in 1787 and 1818, respectively, but both opened their doors to female members at the end of the twentieth century in At least partially due To the requirements of the UK Lottery Sports Fund.
The 21st century has seen the participation of women in sport at its highest ever. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, women competed in 27 sports in 137 events, compared to 28 men's sports in 175 events. Several national women's professional sports leagues have been founded and are in competition, and international women's sporting events such as the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Hockey World Cup continue to grow.