Perceptions of women in sport have changed with time. Discuss these changes and how they have affected women's position in sport and the Olympics.

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Perceptions of women in sport have changed with time.

Discuss these changes and how they have affected women’s position in sport and     the Olympics.

Sport has always been seen as a past time for men from the first Olympic games in 1000-776BC in honour of Zeus, the father of the gods.

The women only Herean games were formed also in 1000-776BC but were soon banned by Roman emperor Theodsious.

Women haven't had the same availabilities to get involved in sport and certain factors for example, certain religious beliefs, self esteem, discrimination, levels of media coverage, opportunities, lack of coaching and access and provision.

The history of sport is largely the history of men’s sport and in the middle ages only a small minority of women were actively involved in such sporting activities as hunting, hawking, stool ball and smock races.

This was mainly due to the fact that women were portrayed to be ‘innately physically inferior to men’

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Emergence of Oxbridge colleges and other girl’s schools had a significant impact on increasing sporting opportunities for women. A range of activities including tennis; golf; cricket; lacrosse became socially acceptable for women to participate in. The weaknesses of this were that the working class women were often unable to take part due to domestic responsibilities and lack of financial support.

In 1885 Madame Bergman-Osterberg founded the first Pe training college for women at Dartford.

Although, the majority of women were still unable to take part due to the pressure to conform to social norms and social expectations.

For example, ...

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