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Women and Equality: The History of Women's Sportswear

Women and equality has been a hot topic in recent years

By GonzagaPublished about a year ago 4 min read
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Women and Equality: The History of Women's Sportswear
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Women and equality has been a hot topic in recent years.

In our daily life, most of the topics we come across about women's equality originate from the reality of patriarchy and different pay for the same work, but in fact, in the history of women's sportswear development, there are also many such problems.

History of women's sportswear development

Initially, women's sportswear was originally designed not only to facilitate movement, but to be full of restrictions. She required women to wear long skirts with corsets for sports.

But over the years, with the women's affirmative action movement, their sportswear has changed a lot. Let's take a look at how women's sportswear has evolved in different sports over the decades.

Tennis

In 1900, women participated in the Olympic Games for the first time. At that time, the percentage of female athletes participating was only 2 percent. At that time, their tennis uniforms consisted of long-sleeved tops and ankle-length skirts. This rigid appearance not only affected comfort, but also women's athletic performance.

And later in the game, French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen led a revolutionary change. She replaced her long skirt with a short-sleeved knee-length pleated skirt; she also put on a hair tie to secure her hair for easier movement; and these became her signature features.

American tennis champion Elizabeth Ryan said of her.

"All women players should be grateful to Suzanne for helping to free us from the tyranny of the corset."

Women tennis players are now wearing clothes that are more appropriate for this fast-paced sport. On the court, players are also trying to break the mold and make tennis clothes more fashionable. Tennis greats like Sharapova are combining tennis and fashion in a perfect way.

Synchronized Swimming

The sport has now grown to be synonymous with flashy and colorful clothing and waterproof cosmetics. But this was not the case in the past.

Once the sport was mainly about synchronization of movements, aesthetics and the athletes' performance, but now it has evolved to look at multiple dimensions such as the athletes' clothing, hair and body

Erin Willson, a Canadian synchronized skater, once said.

"Synchronized swimming is a very artistic sport, so the overall look and feel is important, it requires you to have perfect hair, perfect suit, perfect body".

Beach volleyball

In the sport of beach volleyball, where women must wear bikini suits by default, Isabela Fleury, the Brazilian handball player, raised objections to this, which caused an industry stir.

"The coaches made us take off our gym shorts and replace them with bikini sets; they wanted us to be faster. We protested and they threatened us, so we had to play in bikinis."

Many female beach volleyball players protested to the point that

It is totally sexist that men are allowed to wear loose fitting clothes while women are only allowed to wear bikini sets because of the speed requirement.

Soccer

The history of women's soccer in England is strongly linked to the British feminist movement.

During the Victorian era from 1851 to 1901, women's soccer was discriminated against for a long time, and there were even calls from professionals to ban women from playing soccer.

In 1921, the British Football Association banned women from playing in the FA league. He believed that soccer was a male sport and women should not be encouraged".

The ban was finally lifted in 1971, a few years before the Women's Football Association (WFA) was formed.

The enactment of the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 also gave women the opportunity to become professional soccer referees.

Florence Dixie, a prominent female politician and president of the English Women's Football Club, once said, "There is no reason at all why women should be excluded from the sport of soccer, and women can play it well."

History of women's sportswear development

In 2014, FIFA officially allowed players to play soccer wearing headscarves for religious reasons, which also reflects the respect and tolerance of the sport of soccer for different religious beliefs.

Conclusion

The change of women's sportswear is not only a physical revolution, but also an ideological revolution, and she represents the world's gradual attention to gender equality. In the flood of reality, what problems have you encountered in relation to equality for women? Welcome to share with us in the comment section.

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