WOMEN IN SPORT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 19999, 5 January 1935, Page 14

WOMEN IN SPORT

DANGERS OF THE FUTURE THE MOTHERS OF THE RACE When I helped to summarise the comparative capabilities of man and woman in the world of sport 30 years ago, it was concluded that in croquet the finest woman exponent was superior to the finest male, says an English medical authority, Dr Adolphe Abrahams. It was further agreed that in mountaineering woman had proved that, so far as altitude was concerned, she had achieved practically all that man could do, but in all other athletic contests feminine inferiority was unmistakable.

Hence I am perfectly certain that the most enthusiastic protagonists of women’s athletics of those days could never have expected the improvement that has occurred; and now, relying with precocious confidence upon a continuance of this rate of progress, feminists foresee the day when woman will compete on equal terms with man and even surpass him.

It may be of some interest, therefore, first to speculate upon the likelihood of such advance, and next to consider whether the physique of the nation is likely to be improved as a consequence of the modern athletic movement. It may, as some suppose, prove a serious danger when practised among the potential mothers of the next generation.

Let it at once be realised that a false sense of values is very readily acquired. Women’s best in sport, we may agree, though far above man’s average, is considerably below man’s best. If the requirements and capacities of a whole sex are in question, averages and not exceptions are the real consideration. But we cannot compare the average man with the average woman, because the average woman does not supply material for this physical consideration. We are compelled to utilise the best achievements of each in our research. What reason can be advanced for the present-day craze for athletics and violent exercise generally among girls and young women? Is it a reflection of the conditions of civilisation? The change of the industrial centre from the home to the factory may have left woman without an outlet for muscular exertion. The time once spent by a girl as an assistant in the house learning all the activities by which the family life was maintained is now spent at school. That exercise in general is of value is indubitable; one has only to contrast the physique of the girls of the more leisured class with those who lack the opportunity for recreation and sport. The present generation of girls is on the whole the most beautiful of all time, for well regulated muscular exercise is a wonderful cosmetic. But this is not to approbate violent exercise, especially of a highly competitive character, with its inevitable nervous tension and strain. Our fair athletes should pause to reflect on an insidious danger. Business life and occupations tend in themselves to develop certain masculine qualities in woman; physical training should not accentuate these, but should rather help toward a better capacity to bear the burden of womanhood and possible motherhood.