Bobbie Rosenfeld: Female Athletes In The Twentieth Century

At the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of sport encountered the growing trend of the active participation of female athletes. Prior to the twentieth century, sport culture in society was understood to be strictly reserved for male athletes and unlike today’s society; the role of women was confined to being a spectator rather than a contestant. However, after the success of various female athletes such as Bobbie Rosenfeld, a Canadian Olympic track gold and silver medalist, the gender roles in not just sports but society itself started to shift.

Culturally, sport functioned as a tool in society to serve the creation of identity among classes, reinforcing existing differences between pockets of people while

simultaneously creating stronger social bonds within those pockets. Those in the upper class participated mostly in sports such as golf, tennis and cricket while those in the middle class actively participated in their own choice of sports such as baseball. It was difficult to participate in a sport above or below the social class an individual identified with, even more so if they were a female. Women were making advances in their ever increasing presence in sports; however, they faced not one but multiple social barriers. During the depression women were discriminated against for taking the jobs of others, resulting in them being pushed back to their maternal roles. Society’s impression of female athletes within the first half of the twentieth century was considered as “unnatural, unfeminine, and unhealthy...” .
Bobbie Rosenfeld’s path to success from being an internationally recognized athlete to professional sports journalist in the early nineteenth century was filled with many milestones, which had eventually empowered the image of the modern woman in not just Canada but the rest of the world as well.

Bobbie who was naturally talented, when it came to sports, excelled with ease in various sports as a teen, even those where she had no prior experience. Rosenfeld in 1923 first gained notice by winning a 100-yard sprint in a friendly meet, beating the Canadian record at that time. This later resulted in her being approached by the Canadian National Exhibition’s (CNE) sport director Elwood Hughes. At the CNE Sports Day Bobbie Rosenfeld defeated Rosa Grosse and won the 100-yard final and later defeated Chicago’s relay team. This unprecedented victory shed light on women in sports where the “CNE sports day was significant for raising the visibility of women’s track and field in Canada, where previously women had competed in races at local

picnics.”

After her victories in the Amsterdam Olympics, Bobbie Rosenfeld was welcomed back in Toronto at a victory parade by a crowd of two hundred thousand people, newspapers reported the event and promoted the popularity of females in the sport context.

Rosenfeld continued to participate in major track meets until arthritis forced her to withdraw, however, her passion for sports carried with her leading her to become a columnist for the Daily Globe and Mail in the sports department and then later was granted her own column. As a professional sports journalist Bobby Rosenfeld continued her staunch advocacy for the rights of females as athletic competitors, using her column to celebrate her female peers’ achievements while also expressing their feminine qualities to avoid criticism from her previous male colleagues. Through Bobby’s articles, the “new woman” in sports attempted to break society’s mold and oppose the view that a female’s purpose was mainly for maternal nurturing and child bearing. Bobbie’s journalism reinforced values that promoted female equality on the playing

field.
Analyzing Bobbie Rosenfeld’s achievements both on and off the field gives us perspective on the impact of gender expectations in the context of sports during the first half of the nineteenth century; and the obstacles women faced as an indirect result of the social “norms” of society in Canada during the twentieth century. Rosenfeld’s aspiration to overcome traditional barriers that prevented female athletes to participate in major sporting events was a trigger for substantial change. She helped create the window of opportunity for female athletes to showcase their athletic talents and skills alongside men and that is something we take for granted in present-day.