Women's Sport Between the Wars: Emancipation or Exclusion?
The history of women's sport is forever growing into one of the most intriguing topics to dissect and understand. Women's sport in general is continuing to grow and develop across the world - a far cry from the state of many games just 10-20 years ago. Here at The Football History Boys we have attempted to comprehend the effects of suffrage and wider female freedom in what is often perceived as a misogynistic social attitude before the Second World War. Indeed, we have looked deeply into women's sport before 1918, but not as thoroughly into the inter-war period which as we will see holds an equally pivotal position in history. So in what state was female sport immediately after 1918? The short answer would be - not great. Following the rise in popularity of women's football during the First World War, the FA decided to ban women from being able to use their grounds and stadiums, leading to a rapid decline in attendances. A genuine fear had spread through the Footba