by JM Lane

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 03, 2007

In this article I shall talk about the inequality that females have suffer(ed) in sport throughout the years.

Firstly let's define the two genders male or masculine and female or feminine.
Masculine qualities are thought of as strength, aggression, muscular and daring, while feminine qualities are thought of as sensitive, aesthetic, sympathetic and gentle
The nature of sport has been described as a pastime created by men for men.

The understanding for a boy growing up that to be successful at sport is the way of being a successful man.

For girls the problem however is that sport is considered something that does not go with the image of femininity or womanhood.
This is a problem found in research (Youth Sport Survey) 14% of boys believed it was important for a girl to be good at sport, while even more alarming is that only 27% of girls felt the same.

During the inter-war years women became more athletic but there was still the assumption that exercising would masculinize' the female body. Even today if a woman has a muscular physique they possibly face being labelled a man' lesbian' etc.

The thing with sport is that it's not supposed to be considered an equal opportunities pursuit but a test of strength, power and aggression all considered masculine qualities.

Sport has always been categorised into Male and Female sports with some being considered acceptable for both this is something that can be seen from an early age. "You throw like a girl" is a common taunt any child probably hears sometime during there childhood.

Tennis is a perfect example of sport that is considered acceptable for both genders but even then women are restricted in playing three sets to men's five.
This has caused much debate on the prize money paid at the Wimbledon event of women being paid less, former tennis player Billie Jean King has argued that woman are quite capable of playing five sets "but a woman, probably wearing a corset fainted and the then all-male board decided that we could only play best of three sets."

The Football Association banned women's football in 1921 a ban that was not to be lifted until 50 years later.

The first modern Olympics (1896) saw no women being allowed to compete, the 2nd they could play golf and tennis, gradually over the years they have been allowed to play in more and more sports and currently are only banned from boxing.

Despite bans being lifted it is still not considered appropriate to mix the sexes many schools segregate boys and girls in sport, with boys

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