Women at the Winter Olympics: why change has taken so long, with the fight far from finished
- Beijing 2022 will be the most gender-balanced Games yet, though some countries are still yet to send a female athlete to the Winter Olympics
- While the gender gap is closing, men still have more events on the programme, with women unable to enter some
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be the most gender-balanced Games yet, with 45 per cent of athletes being women – a record high, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
However, the long journey to reach equality at the Games is still far from finished.
The 1924 Winter Olympics, held in Chamonix, France, were the first Games at which women were allowed to compete. But there were only 11 women out of 250 athletes, and they were only allowed to compete in figure skating.
It was largely believed at the time that winter sports were far too dangerous for women, a view held by IOC founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said “women have but one task [at the Olympics], the role of crowning the winner”.
De Coubertin, who is known as the “father of the modern Olympic Games” and was the second president of the IOC, also said “women’s participation must be absolutely prohibited. It is indecent that spectators should be exposed to the risk of seeing the body of a woman being smashed before their eyes”.
Why has change taken so long?