ATHLETICS AND WOMEN

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4805, 3 July 1939, Page 7

ATHLETICS AND WOMEN

BRITISH QUESTIONNAIRE. Nearly 1200 of Britain's foremost women athletes are now busy settling that much argued question: "Are athletics harmful to women?"

They have been asked by the National Fitness Council to answer an intimate questionnaire on their health. The 16 points of this have been framed by a medical sub-com-mittee of the Council.

It depends on the answers whether British women will in future be allowed to take part in the big national and international athletic contests.

Mrs. Muriel Cornell, hon. secretary of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association, told a "Daily Mail" reporter on May 15: "In addition to more intimate questions regarding their health, the questionnaire asks for details of training, diet, and about smoking. It also asks at what age the women began in athletics, in what branch they specialise, and how their nerves and general health are affected before and after events."

The questions are so framed that the answers will tell doctors whether athletics are spoiling chances of happy, healthy motherhood. For several years women athletes have been under medical supervision. No weaklings are allowed to compete in strenuous events, but this is the first exhaustive inquiry into effects on future health.

"We are confident," said another member of the W.A.A.A., "that when the answers are read by doctors who are still doubtful about the effects of athletics on women they will be satisfied that no harm is being done to the future race."

This point is supported by the numbers of marriages among women athletes in many years. Many have had families. The children have all been healthy, and frequently, when the children have grown out of the baby stage, the mothers have returned to athletics.