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Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld is the most historically and culturally significant Canadian sport figure. Rosenfeld was a pioneer for women’s athletics, and was a role model to many young girls and working class women. When at a time when women in sport was not considered proper, Fanny broke down barriers, competing in high levels of softball, hockey, and basketball and track. She was a women of firsts, she helped define Canadian women in sport.
Fanny, was born in Katrinosalov, Russia which is now part of Ukraine on December 28, 1904. When she was still and infant, her family immigrated to Canada. This move caused many problems for her to overcome in her younger years. She had to overcome finical challenges as well as challenges due to her Jewish religion. A major challenge she faced growing up was simply that she was a female athlete. This would plague her most of her life, however she
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In May 1932, Fanny noticed that there was no actual league for softball, unlike her male counterparts. So she helped to create the Provincial Women’s Softball Union of Québec, she served as the president. This league is a huge deal, currently many softball players in Quebec and Ontario alike have played under them, either on a team or a tournament. This league was revolutionary at its time, it allowed many girls from all over Quebec to finally participate in softball. The PWSUQ was one way Fanny established herself in the community of sport. Another way was her journalism career for the globe and mail through her column “Sports Reel” she was able to defend women’s sports. It wasn’t uncommon for male writers to write in and express negative opinions of women in sport. Fanny was witty and always had something to say back to them. As insignificant this may seem it was actually a very important event. Through her column Bobbie was able to change the perspectives of many men and women alike of women in
Canada’s most famous female all-around athlete in the 1920s was Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld. Baseball, basketball, fastball, golf, hockey,lacrosse, softball, speed skating, tennis, and track and field were some of the sports that Bobbie played and she mastered all of them (“Bobbie Rosenfeld: One of the Greatest All-Around Athletes”). The first event that put Rosenfeld in the spotlight was the 100-metre sprint that she ran, for fun, in a small track and field meet in 1923. During the meet she came first in the race, beating Rosa Grosse, the leading Canadian champion. She beat her again at another meet and made the world record for that event. In the same year she was Toronto’s tennis champion (Rosenberg). Bobbie Rosenfeld continued her career by participating in a provincial track and field competition in 1925. She placed first in discus, shot put, 220-metre dash, low hurdles and long jump. In the 100-metre dash and javelin she came second (Library and Archives Canada). By that time she was the Canadian record holder for the 440-metre relay, standing board jump, discus, javelin and shot put. Rosenfeld’s greatest achievements were in, the first Olympics that allowed women to participate in track and field events, Amsterdam in 1928. She was a member of the Matchless Six, the Canadian women’s track and field team. This team did an outstanding job in the 400-metre relay; as a result they placed first and broke the previous record, becoming national heroes. In addition to the relay Bobbie won the silver medal in the 100-metre dash. The most memorable was the 800-metre race, one that Bobbie had not trained for. During the race she could have finished in third place, however she let her teammate finish before her and as a re...
The film “A League of Their Own,” depicts a fictionalized tale of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. This league was started during World War II when many of the Major Leagues Biggest stars were drafted to the war. MLB owners decided to start this league with hopes of making money while the men were overseas fighting. Traditional stereotypes of women in sports were already in force before the league even begins. One of the scouts letts Dottie, one of the films main characters she is the perfect combination of looks as well as talent. The scout even rejects one potential player because she is not as pretty as the league is looking for even though she is a great baseball player. The player, Marla’s father said if she was a boy she would be playing for the Yankee’s. Eventually Mara’s father is able to convince the scout to take Marla to try outs because he raised her on his own after her mother died. Her father says it is his fault his daughter is a tomboy. In this case the film reinforces the traditional stereotype that mothers are in charge of raising their daughters and teaching them to be a lady, where fathers are incapable of raising girls to be anything other than a tomboy. The focus on beauty also reinforces the traditional stereotype that men will only be interested in women’s sports when the females participating in
Fern, Fanny. Ruth Hall & Other Writings. Ed. Joyce W. Warren. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986.
Turn on ESPN, and there are many female sports reporters, and many reports on female athletes. Flip through Sports Illustrated, and female athletes are dotted throughout the magazine. Female athletes star in the commercials. Female athletes are on the cover of newspapers. Millions of books have been sold about hundreds of female athletes. However, this has not always been the case. The number of females playing sports nowadays compared to even twenty years ago is staggering, and the number just keeps rising. All the women athletes of today have people and events from past generations that inspired them, like Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League, Billie Jean King, and the 1999 United States Women’s World
Hult explains that in the era between 1890-1920, women physical educators were a tightly knit, dedicated group committed to a tradition of restricted competition, self-governance, and a feminine approach to individual and team sports. They believed that all girls and women should have the opportunity to participate and enjoy sport, not only the talented elite as in the competition-driven male philosophical structure (87). Play-days and sport-days with emphasis on team building games were a means of perpetuating an image of an ideal American female athlete: feminine, beautiful, strong, yet always 'aware of her delicate reproductive system' (89).
Laura Secord was originally an American. She was born in Massachusetts on September 13, 1775. Her father was Thomas Ingersoll. He was a major in the American army. They were well known because Laura's father was a clever man. In her family there were inventors, mechanics, merchants, magistrates, teachers and soldiers. Laura had three sisters. When she was eight her mother had died and her father had gone off to war, so Laura had to look after them. After two years or so Laura's father married someone else. A month later she got ill and died. Three years later he remarried a woman named Sarah Whiting. After Thomas Ingersoll became a young Republican and saw excessive violence in Massachusetts, he moved his family to Upper Canada. When Laura was eighteen they moved again to Bustling Port, which is near the Niagara River below the falls.
The importance of softball in my life goes unnoticed by others, but I owe everything I am to this sport. I am an organized, cooperative woman who does not let failures affect my work ethic. Although my friends and family do not give my softball career much credit, I am confident that the lessons I’ve taken away from this sport have proficiently prepared me to step up to the plate and score a successful
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports. When the American people think of women in sports, they think of ice skating, field hockey and diving. People don’t recognize that women have the potential to play any sport that a Man can play, with equal skill, if not better.
Diana is an excellent illustration of the many struggles of women to find a place for themselves in sports. On an individual level, defying societal stereotypes is extremely difficult. The buriers that the first person must overcome are often extreme. However once the first person breaks down those buriers, it becomes increasingly easier for others to follow in their footsteps. Diana's struggle demonstrates both how far women have come and how far women still have to go.
“The past three decades have witnessed a steady growth in women's sports programs in America along with a remarkable increase in the number of women athletes (Daniel Frankl 2)” From an early age women were thought to be “Lady Like”; they are told not to get all sweaty and dirty. Over 200 years since Maud Watson stepped on the tennis courts of Wimbledon (Sports Media Digest 3); women now compete in all types and levels of sports from softball to National racing. Soccer fans saw Mia Hamm become the face of women’s soccer around the world, Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most popular figures in tennis, and Indy car racing had their first woman racer, Danika Patrick. With all the fame generated by these women in their respective sports, they still don’t receive the same compensation as the men in their respective sports fields.
Tidye Pickett was born on November 3, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the neighborhood of Englewood. At a young age, a city official discovered her and began to teach her how to run and jump. She competed for the Chicago Park District track team. Later John Brooks, a fellow Olympian, asked her parent’s permission to coach her for the Olympics, which he did in 1932 through the 1936 games. Between 1931 and 1936 she won and received medals around the country and Canada. Tidye Pickett was the first female African-American to represent the United States at the 1936 Olympic Games. She competed in the quarterfinals on the low hurdles track and field. At the age of 17, she had overcome two things: race and gender. After being athletic, she
Shattuck, Debra (2011). “Women’s baseball in the 1860s: Reestablishing a historical memory.” Nine,19(2), 1-26. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nine/vo19 /19.2.shattuck.html
The first perspective is that women are disadvantaged at any sport. Some people reiterate the difference of men and women in sports. This is influenced by strength and the natural power men hold, comparable to women. Rodriguez questions “Is this because female athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?” This perspective seems to be a social issue based on the notable skills women acquire vs. the apparent judgments of gender issues. The second perspective is the idea that women deserve and inherently earn their right of equal attention and equal pay. “Sometimes, the secret to equality is not positive discrimination, it 's equal terms. It 's the shrug of the shoulders that says "what 's the difference?" The moment worth aspiring for is not seeing people celebrate the world-class female cricketer who competes at comparatively low-level male professional cricket, but the day when people are aware that she does, and don 't find it notable at all” (Lawson). Lawson makes it a point to confirm the biased notions against women in sports and relay an alternative worth working toward and fighting for. Both outlooks can be biased but only one has factual evidence to back it up. The second perspective reviews an ongoing gender issue. This problem is welcome for change depending on society’s
Lesko, J. (2005). League History. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association. Retrieved for this paper Mar 20, 2014 from, http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.