femininity; the normative behaviour expected of males and females in all social institutions; the number and kind of sport opportunities provided to women, compared with men; and varying rates of cultural change across societies. So what is the history of womens involvement in sport? The reason and occasions for participation have varied from religious festivals to symbolic achievements of adulthood to recreation for health and fun. In the past women were forbidden to participate in or to even view the Olympic Games of ancient Greece, therefore women established their own program of sports competition, which they named the Heraen Games after Hera, the wife of Zeus. It was considered tolerable for women to keep healthy in order to be good breeders. The glories of true athletic success were reserved for the men of ancient Greece, and the winners became religious, political and cultural heroes. Women were not part of what was considered to be real sport but were sporting nonetheless. In the American colonial experience, a similar pattern emerges of womens participation. Women were restricted by the patriarchs of their communities in the games they could play, but evidence from journals, diaries, letters, and newspapers of the times indicates that the ladies of some wealth included dancing, spectatoring of horse and boat races, skating, sleighing, kolven and golf. The physical activities were socially defined as different from those of men. One activity shared by both sexes was horseback riding. The game of cricket for women emerged in the 1700s, and there is some evidence that colonial women held foot races.The next part of history that is to be investigated is the mid-ninetieth century Victorian era, in which the arguments against female participation in sport are often based on a set of beliefs. Victorians believed that the ideal woman should perform her patriotic duties of attracting a mate, bearing and rearing children, and...
