SPORT 1913 - 2013

IS WOMAN THE FUTURE OF SPORT? France As An Illuminative Example Emmanuelle Bonnet Oulaldj / France

PART 1: Obtaining the Right for Women to Do Physical Practice 1900-1910: Women Are Not Allowed in Stadiums Sport involves the body. It opens questions about the position of women in our society. Nicolas Kssis, historian of the FSGT explains that in the beginning, “the bourgeois and middle-class promoters of the sport move- ment considered it unacceptable, even dan- gerous, that the fair sex should be addicted to the joy of sport, a domain for them to acquire fighting spirit and bravery, all these vectors of masculinity” (Kssis 2008). At the begin- ning of the 20 th century Henri Desgranges, the founder of the Tour de France said that “there is nothing more hideous than a sporty woman” (Desgranges 1904). Everybody knows the position of Pierre de Coubertin concerning this question. He considered women sports as “uninteresting, unsightly and displeasing”, and prohibited the partici- pation of women at the Olympic Games, like in Ancient Greece where slaves and women had no right to enter the first stadiums of mankind. A little bit of physical education and gymnastics are enough for women, pro- vided they are mothers in good physical con- dition. Nicolas Kssis also clarifies that for the conformist society of these days, “a man sur- passes himself even if he finishes a run crawl- ing on all fours. A woman loses her feminin- ity when physical effort is visible and leaves a mark on her silhouette: “A legitimate role

Introduction The International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation celebrates its 100 years. In France, workers’ sport has already passed the centenary. In the beginning of the 20 th century when these associations were created, the women’s right to practice sport, the liberty of disposing of their body and the right to vote constituted the main challenges of democracy and equality. Men and women for whom the development of sport primordially signifies the achievement of human emancipation have been working together for the participation of women in sport for over 100 years and in par- ticular for gender-diversity. Like Jane Renoux, one of the first woman sports journalists in France. In May 1999 she wrote that “the gen- der-diversity is the source of abundance, of modernisation in this domain. We know that it is not a privilege that we want to obtain, all we demand is the respect of our rights: right to practice sport, right to get information and right to express ourselves. The right to be treated with dignity, might we also add, as it is so frequent that the woman’s image is dete- riorated, diminished and deviated (Renoux 2000). After a short and non-exhaustive re- view in history and in particular with the fo- cus on the situation in France, we will see how important gender-diversity is, therefore the involvement of women in sport activities and the access to leading positions in sport in- stances still has top priority, and which routes we should follow to accomplish the aim of sport for a large majority.

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