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]
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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.
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.
Museums
United States
Atlanta Polo Museum
Scheduled for opening in 2007. All items on exhibit until scheduled opening. See http://www.uswpf.com for more information.
Related pages
Athletes
- Famous Women Athletes
Athletic Associations
- Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (defunct since 1982)
American Football
- Women's American football
Australian rules football
- Women's Footy
- Rec Footy
Baseball
- Women΄s baseball
Basketball
-
Women's basketball
- Women's National Basketball Association (USA)
- Women's National Basketball League (Australia)
- List of WNBA players
- Women's Chinese Basketball Association
-
College basketball (USA):
- NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
- NCAA Women's Division II Basketball Championship
- NCAA Women's Division III Basketball Championship
Boxing
-
Women's boxing
- List of female boxers
Cheerleading
- Cheerleading
Cricket
- Women's test cricket
Football (Soccer)
-
Women's football (soccer)
- List of women's football teams
- List of women's football clubs in England and Wales
- List of women's national football teams
- List of women's football (soccer) competitions
- Women's United Soccer Association
Golf
- Women's major golf championships
- Professional golf tours - and several of the articles linked from that page
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
Gymnastics
- NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship
Field Hockey
- Women's Field Hockey
Ice hockey
-
IIHF World Women Championships
- 2004 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships
- American national women's hockey team
- Canadian national women's hockey team
- Finnish national women's ice hockey team
- Swedish national women's ice hockey team
- Russian national women's ice hockey team
- German national women's ice hockey team
- Chinese national women's ice hockey team
- Kazakhstani national women's ice hockey team
- WMLB
- WNHL
Lacrosse
-
Women's lacrosse
-
International Federation of Women's Lacrosse
Associations
- Women's Lacrosse World Cup
-
International Federation of Women's Lacrosse
Associations
Martial Arts
- List of female mixed martial artists
Polo
- U.S. Women's Polo Federation [1]
Roller Derby
- Roller derby
Rowing
- Henley Women's Regatta
- NCAA Rowing Championship
Tennis
- List of female tennis players
Volleyball
- Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's Beach Volleyball
- Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's Volleyball
Wrestling
See also
- Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act (Title IX)
- Women's Sports Foundation
References
- Heraea Games
- Physiological gender difference in sports
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
Category: Women's sports