Women and Sports in the United States by Cahn Susan K.;O'Reilly Jean;

Author:Cahn, Susan K.;O'Reilly, Jean;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Northeastern University Press

Summary and Conclusions

The preceding discussion indicates that developments in women’s sport in recent years are marked by a number of tendencies. On the one hand, the increasing involvement of girls and women in an expanding range of activities is cause for optimism. Other aspects of women’s involvement, however, are less encouraging. Women continue to be excluded from most positions of power and influence in both the educational and amateur sport systems. In addition, the opportunities for skilled women athletes to pursue careers in professional sport remain severely restricted. Inadequate opportunities for physically challenged women and the exclusion and oppression of lesbians are additional barriers to women’s full participation in sport and physical activity.

An additional set of issues raised in this chapter concerns the persistence of ideological struggle over the values and meanings of women’s sport. We examined the feminization of sport in the context of the “fitness boom” and the growing interest in “feminine” sports like gymnastics and synchronized swimming. The presence of these sports on the Olympic program, alongside sports like judo, marathoning, and other strength and distance events, indicates the varied images and ideals about women’s athleticism in contemporary cultures.

From N. Theberge and S. Birrell, 1994, chapter 20: Structural Constraints Facing Women in Sport. In Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by D.M. Costa and S.R. Guthrie, pages 331–340. © 1994 by D. Margaret Costa and Sharon R. Guthrie. Reprinted with permission from Human Kinetics (Champaign, IL).

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