Women's sports

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Women's sport(s) include all-female sports competitions and leagues. Women's level of play in all sports rose during the late 20th century, as women and girls were allowed and finally encouraged to devote themselves to training and practice. Title IX supported women athletes' efforts in the U.S. Women now achieve a high level of technical skill and competitiveness unknown to previous generations. More women athletes now have "a strong work ethic, motivation to train on their own, intensity, and a mentality that can focus on the game."[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Women have had to fight for the right to be athletic competitors in antiquity and modern times. In the Ancient Olympics, women were not originally allowed to compete or watch competitions. However, a separate women's athletic event, the Heraea Games, was eventually developed.

In western modern history, few women competed in sports until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; women athletes were frowned upon by society. That began to change in many countries, partly due to the women's rights movement. Women's participation, as fans or athletes, is still generally lower than men's. The reasons for this are not well-researched.

Some sports organizations make no division between gender. For example, high schools might have only one soccer team, and the few girls who are willing to play on a co-ed team often do so in spite of discouragement.

Even as women advance in sports, they are less likely to be represented if the sport is considered a "contact" game. For example, as of 2005, female boxers are still relatively uncommon, in contrast to female runners.

[edit] Magazines

  • "Women in Sports" is a UK-based quarterly publication, with news, action pictures and articles for the "UK's elite sportswomen" and girls.
  • REAL SPORTS magazine is currently available online. It began publication in 1998, with a mission "to change mainstream media coverage of women's sports, with a particular focus on team sports at the professional, collegiate and national team levels." It grew from 50,000 copies per quarter to bi-monthly printing of over 150,000 copies per issue. The magazine cites the disappearance of seven women's professional leagues and lack of interest in "creating a market for women's sports" as reasons for moving to an online format available via membership. They're hopeful that they will one day re-launch the print version.
  • Her Sports is the self-proclaimed "magazine for strong, independent women who regard active sports as an important part of their life and self-image."
  • Women's Multisport Online is a magazine for women's multisport around the world.
  • Sports Illustrated Women (now defunct)
  • The Sporting Women's Quarterly is a sports lifestyle magazine featuring women's luxury sports.
  • womenSports magazine was the original in the category. Started in 1974 by Billie Jean King, Larry King and Jim Jorgensen, it was sold to Redbook in 1976 and eventually stopped publishing in 1984.

[edit] Museums

[edit] United States

[edit] Atlanta Polo Museum

Scheduled for opening in 2007. All items on exhibit until scheduled opening. See http://www.uswpf.com for more information.

[edit] Related pages

[edit] Athletes

[edit] Athletic Associations

[edit] American Football

[edit] Australian rules football

[edit] Baseball

[edit] Basketball

[edit] Boxing

[edit] Cheerleading

[edit] Cricket

[edit] Football (Soccer)

[edit] Golf

Most of Wikipedia's articles about women golfers are in Category:LPGA Tour golfers, Category:Ladies European Tour golfers or Category:LPGA of Japan Tour golfers

[edit] Gymnastics

Female Gymnastics
Female Gymnastics

[edit] Field Hockey

[edit] Ice hockey

[edit] Lacrosse

[edit] Martial Arts

[edit] Polo

  • U.S. Women's Polo Federation [1]

[edit] Roller Derby

[edit] Rowing

[edit] Tennis

[edit] Volleyball

[edit] Wrestling

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Find more information on Women's sports by searching Wikipedia's sister projects
 Dictionary definitions from Wiktionary
 Textbooks from Wikibooks
 Quotations from Wikiquote
 Source texts from Wikisource
 Images and media from Commons
 News stories from Wikinews
 Learning resources from Wikiversity
In other languages