Nancy Struna

The following selection is adapted from an article that Nancy Struna wrote for the Women's Sports Foundation, a charitable educational organization dedicated to ensuring equal access to participation for all girls and women in sports. In the article, Struna traces the evolution of women's sports. Whereas in the first half of the eighteenth century women participated in a variety of sporting events, in the nineteenth century changing gender norms limited women to domestic and maternal activities. These gender roles were challenged repeatedly throughout the twentieth century. The watershed moment for women's sports came in 1972, when Title IX of the federal Educational Amendments Act mandated that education institutions receiving federal funds provide equal funding for men's and women's sports.