but gender equality and sports female
participation and popularity in sports
increased dramatically in the 20th
century especially in the last quarter
century reflecting changes in modern
societies that emphasize gender parity
although the level of participation and
performance still varies greatly by
country and by sport women's sports are
widely accepted throughout the world
today although there has been a rise in
participation by women in sports a large
disparity still remains before each
ancient Olympic Games there was a
separate women's athletic event held at
the same Stadium in Olympia the hurryin
Games dedicated to the goddess Hera in
the first Olympic Games in the early
modern era which were in 1896 were not
open to women but since then the number
of women who have participated in the
Olympic Games have increased
dramatically the modern Olympics had
female competitors from 1900 onwards
though women at first participated in
considerably fewer events than men women
first made their appearance in the
Olympic Games in Paris in 1900 that year
22 women competed in tennis sailing
equestrian and golf in the 21st century
Heather Watson and foo yuan we broke one
of the last taboos and women's sport
when both openly admitted they were
menstruating Watson after a
self-described poor performance in a
tennis match in 2015 and yuan we at the
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro the 2012
London Olympics were the first games of
their kind in which women competed in
every sport the fight for women to gain
equality on national levels and in
professional leagues in terms of pay and
better funding has continued
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the pay gap in women's sports is a
controversial and significant issue
sports still remain dominated by men
financially and globally recently there
has been much more crossover as to which
sport's males and females participate in
although there are still some
differences it is important to give
women equal opportunity in sport
governance society will need to move
away from the social conditioning of
women into gender stereotype roles and
allow for young girls to choose their
own path especially if that includes an
interest in sports men must begin to see
women as equals before women can truly
be equals
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