36 research outputs found
Maidens and Man-kads: gendering cricket scholarship in the 21st century
No full textIn CLR James’ Beyond a Boundary he opined: ‘What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?’ One might add: ‘What do they know of cricket who only men’s cricket know?’ This article reviews the current global historical and sociological literature on female participation in cricket, female spectatorship and fandom, and cricketing masculinities, concluding that these subjects are still in their infancy–a fact which should concern all scholars of cricket. I argue that the key problem with current scholarship is that women’s and men’s cricket are examined as separate entities: fully gendering cricket scholarship requires a more integrated approach. Here I offer 3 strategies to achieve this: a restructuring of our work; a more interdisciplinary approach, with historians and sociologists working closely together; and the need to bring intersectionality into the heart of our work, to ensure the experiences of non-white female cricketers are more fully understood
'Cricket has given me everything': women’s sport and the women’s movement in twentieth-century Britain
No full textThis article examines the formation of the governing body of women’s cricket in 1926 and its subsequent activities, arguing for a reinsertion of women’s sport into the history of women and the women’s movement in twentieth-century Britain. The centrality of sport to many women’s lives is clearly demonstrated; it is argued that playing cricket was a way to challenge discourses surrounding female frailty, and a way for women to reject traditional models of domesticity, placing their own leisure needs above servicing the needs of their husbands. Overall it is suggested that a detailed examination of women’s sporting lives can disrupt and alter our current understanding of women’s history, revealing new continuities in the ideological development of the women's movement. Including sporting organisations in a broader definition of the women’s movement is therefore crucial for historians, as we seek to make sense of women’s lives across the twentieth century.Cet article étudie la création, en 1926, de l’organisation qui gouverne le cricket féminin, et ses activités, afin de plaider pour la réinsertion du sport féminin dans l’histoire des femmes britanniques et de leur mouvement au vingtième siècle. L’importance capitale du sport dans la vie de nombreuses femmes est clairement démontrée et il est suggéré que jouer au cricket était une manière de mettre à mal les discours concernant une prétendue fragilité féminine, ainsi qu’une manière de rejeter des modèles traditionnels de domesticité, puisqu’elles donnaient la priorité à leurs propres loisirs plutôt qu’aux besoins/attentes de leurs maris. Regarder de manière détaillée la vie sportive des femmes peut altérer notre point de vue sur leur histoire, en faisant apparaître de nouvelles continuités dans le développement idéologique de leur mouvement. Inclure les organisations sportives dans une définition plus large du mouvement des femmes est donc essentiel pour les historien.ne.s si nous espérons faire sens de la vie des femmes au vingtième siècle
Women in Sport Inquiry
No full textSubject: Women's sportWitness(es): Dr Beth Clarkson, Visiting Lecturer, Portsmouth University; Dr Rafaelle Nicholson, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University; Professor Hanya Pielichaty, Professor of Sport, Gender and Inclusive Education, Lincoln University; Professor Stacey Pope, Associate Professor, Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Durham University</p
'Who are we...to tell the South Africans how to run their country?' The Women's Cricket Association and the aftermath of the D'Oliveira Affair, 1968/69
No full textBook Review: Britain’s Olympic women: a history, by Jean Williams, Oxford, Routledge, 2020, 368 pp., ISBN 978-0-3674-7321-1
No full textWho killed schoolgirl cricket? The Women's Cricket Association and the death of an opportunity, 1945-1960
No full textThis article examines the reasons behind the decline of schoolgirl cricket in the years between 1945 and 1960. It considers the impact of the Education Act 1944 and 'secondary education for all' on girls' physical education in general, focusing on why certain sports, in particular cricket, were not widely introduced into the new secondary modern and grammar schools. The outreach programme of the Women's Cricket Association, the governing body of women's cricket, to these new schools is considered alongside the problem of equipment and pitch shortages. Ultimately, blame for schoolgirl cricket's failure to become entrenched within the English education system is placed upon the attitudes of teachers and Local Education Authorities towards girls' cricket at this time; they considered the sport unsuitable for female pupils. Overall, the article serves as an historical case study of gendered physical education in action
'Our own paper': Evaluating the impact of Women's Cricket magazine, 1930-1967
No full textThis article examines the content of Women's Cricket magazine, which was published between 1930 and 1967 by the Women's Cricket Association. It is suggested that sportswomen have always actively resisted and attempted to combat the negative discourses surrounding their participation in physical activities; the magazine is used as a case study of this. It is argued that the editors attempted to challenge the stereotypes of women's cricket available in the mainstream press by publishing a newspaper of their own which provided accurate, serious coverage of their sport, and by distributing this to the mainstream press. The question of how far they were successful in altering negative discourses about female participation in the sport is also assessed
Women coaches, professionalisation, and national governing body mergers in England, 1989–2000
No full textBetween 1989 and 2000, many women’s sports which had previously been governed separately to men’s sport were forced into ‘mergers’ with male governing bodies. These processes were profoundly disempowering for the women involved, often leaving them with very limited voice and representation in the governance of their sport post-merger. In this article, I detail the experiences of female coaches caught up in these merger processes, based on an analysis of archival documents and oral history interviews across six sports (squash, athletics, football, hockey, lacrosse and cricket). For some women coaches, the mergers proved a positive step on the path to professionalisation: they began to be paid for work which previously was often done for free. However, in other cases, elite coaching roles were removed and reallocated to men at the point of merger. Prior to the mergers, many women’s sports were coached entirely or predominantly by women; however, the mergers led to the loss of a generation of women coaches who were either actively pushed out or were asked to ‘requalify’ for their roles and left coaching altogether. The legacies of the mergers are still evident today in the structural gender discrimination which operates across contemporary British sport coaching
Cricket and Community in England: 1800 to the Present Day. By PeterDavies with RobertLight. Manchester University Press. 2012. 180pp. £65.00
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