In A History of Women in Sport Part 1, I looked at the changes that occurred during the 20th century in term’s women’s involvement and acceptance in sport. Today I want to follow that up by looking at the changes that have continued to occur into the modern era.
Women in Sport Part 5: The Modern Era
As I write this chapter in 2018, the status of women’s sport has changed even further with more progress having been made. At the Olympic level, women now make up 45% of the total athletes attending the games (3). A similar pattern is seen in American sports with 45% of both high-school and collegiate athletes being female (4,5). I have no statistics but get the sense that the same general pattern is occurring in many other Western countries.
In the same way, I suspect that those changes are still not occurring in less economically disadvantaged countries or where older social stigma still exists about what is and is not an appropriate role for women.… Keep Reading