Shattering The Glass Ceiling: Women in Male-Dominated Sports

Isabelle Shaw

The concept of a glass ceiling has been used historically to describe women facing unacknowledged barriers to success in male-dominated areas of society, despite growing progress towards equal rights. Many barrier-breaking women have managed to shatter the glass ceiling in male-dominated competitive sports. Their success is a testament to women’s resilience in achieving equal rights, not only politically, but also in sports.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was a sporting trailblazer and was once considered the greatest female athlete in history, inspiring women to compete in male-dominated sports.

In 1932, she made the cut in five sports at the Olympic Games in California. However, at this time women could only participate in three sports at once. Nevertheless, Zaharias fought against the discriminatory nature of the Olympics and went on to win a gold medal in javelin. This success continued when Zaharias achieved her status as an amateur golfer in 1943, going on to win 82 golf tournaments.

She was consistent in her resistance to the perception of these sports as reserved for only male athletes. Zaharias is mostly remembered for criticising the lack of opportunities for women in golf. She pushed for change for women in golf by creating the LPGA in 1950.

As a result, she participated in more tournaments and continued her success by winning the 1946 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. She revolutionised contemporary popular opinion of women in sports and forged freedom for women to participate in male-dominated sports.

Zhang Shan

From a young age, Fanny Blankers-Koen proved that women could excel in hurdles and high jump. Her record-breaking career began at 17 when she set a national record for the 800 metres in 1935. She made her mark as a barrier-breaking woman by qualifying for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin for the high jump and 4×100 metre relay. Blankers-Koen spent her career continuously breaking records, including setting the world record in the 100-metre sprint in 1938 at 11.0 seconds. Later she was confronted with judgement for having children instead of continuing her sporting career.

Blankers-Koen is an inspiration for ignoring these critics. She continued her career in sports following WWII, despite the controversy surrounding her decision to maintain both a sporting career and a family. Her steadfastness against these sexist opinions, saying ‘I’ll show you’ to critics, defied the sexist expectations that women should give up their careers for their children.

Her talent in the 1948 London Games proved that women could excel in sports just as well as men. They did not have to be limited to the role of motherhood. In these games, out of only eight women’s events, she won four, including hurdles and relay.

Maggie Alphonsi

The England women’s rugby team that won the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup set a revolutionary example for women’s success in rugby. Alphonsi was a member of this team who faced discrimination for her race, sexuality and gender, due to the lack of diversity in the rugby union.

“Her success earned her an MBE and she became the first woman to receive the Pat Marshall Award.”

Despite this, she has scored 28 tries in her career and represented England 74 times. Alphonsi has also won seven consecutive Six Nations Crowns. Her success earned her an MBE and she became the first woman to receive the Pat Marshall Award. She was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2016. Despite rugby being considered too boisterous or aggressive for women, Alphonsi’s success sets a precedent for women’s greater participation in rugby.

Women past and present continue to break the glass ceiling in sports – we can only be excited as we look forward to the future of women in sport.

Isabelle Shaw

Isabelle is a student at the University of Edinburgh studying History and Spanish. She is an aspiring journalist with a focus on writing articles that help contribute to change and understanding of women's rights.