Inspirational and aspirational. Fearless and phenomenal. The 101 women athletes every fan needs to know! The fifth book in the Big Book of Who series from Sports Illustrated Kids profiles extraordinary athletes who shaped the narratives of their sports. The best women athletesãpast and presentãincluding Billie Jean King, Serena Williams, Nadia Comaneci, Simone Biles, and dozens more are grouped into these categories: Superstars who reinvented what it means to be a sports celebrity, Wonder Women who transcend sports and created seismic shifts in our culture, Trail Blazers who broke barriers and paved the way for others to follow, Record Breakers who set new standards for excellence, and the Champions who showed heart and gumption as winners. All of their stories bring excellence in womenês sports to readers hungry for empowering stories for kidsãgirls and boys alike.
For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life. Women’s basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others.
Beautiful and powerful, Strong Like Her presents the awe-inspiring account of women’s athleticism throughout history. Journalist Haley Shapley takes us through the delightful untold history of female strength to understand how we can better encourage—and celebrate—the physical power of women. Part group biography, part cultural history, Strong Like Her delves into the fascinating stories of our muscular foremothers. From the first female Olympian (who entered the chariot race through a loophole) to the circus stars who could lift their husbands above their heads and make it look like “a little light housework with a feather duster,” these brave and brawny women paved the way for the generations to follow. Filled with Sophy Holland’s beautiful portraits of some of today’s most awe-inspiring athletes, Strong Like Her celebrates strength in all its forms. Illuminating the lives and accomplishments of storied female sports stars—whose contributions to society go far beyond their entries in record books—Shapley challenges us to rethink everything we thought we knew about the power of women.
New York Times bestseller Rachel Ignotofsky's Women in Sports comes to the youngest readers in board format! Highlighting the pioneering efforts of women athletes, this board book edition of the original bestseller features simpler text and Rachel Ignotofsky's signature beautiful illustrations reimagined for younger readers to introduce the perfect role models for inspiring a love of sports. The collection includes diverse women across various sports, time periods, and geographic location. The perfect gift for every future athlete!
The definitive, illustrated celebration of 100 of the most important women in sports as covered by Sports Illustrated since its founding in 1954. Marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX, this is an inspiring celebration of 100 women who are still paving the way for future generations of female athletes. This important and groundbreaking volume chronicles both the breadth and rich diversity of sports and the athletes who compete in them: from the global stage of the Olympics and the Paralympics and the Women’s World Cup, to collegiate athletics, to Gen-X sports. From Janet Guthrie to Megan Rapinoe, and Billie Jean King to Aly Raisman, this is the ideal gift book for anyone involved with girls in athletics, whether as an athlete or coach, parent, daughter, sister, niece, or granddaughter.
Women's Contributions to the sports world have helped shape the future for today's young athletes. Women in Sports celebrates the pioneers who paved the way and the stars of today who amaze us with their athletic excellence. Action-packed photos and colorful text bring these incredible moments and people to life in this empowering look at women in sports. Book jacket.
“We trained just as hard and we have just as much love for our sport. We deserve to play just as much as any other athlete. . . . I am sick and tired of being treated like I am second rate. I plan on standing up for what is right and fighting for equality.” —Sage Ohlensehlen, Women’s Swim Team Captain at the University of Iowa Fifty years ago, US president Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law, making it illegal for federally funded education programs to discriminate based on sex. The law set into motion a massive boom in girls and women’s sports teams, from kindergarten to the collegiate level. Professional women’s sports grew in turn. Title IX became a massive touchstone in the fight for gender equality. So why do girls and women—including trans and intersex women—continue to face sexist attitudes and unfair rules and regulations in sports? The truth is that the road to equality in sports has been anything but straightforward, and there is still a long way to go. Schools, universities, and professional organizations continue to struggle with addressing unequal pay, discrimination, and sexism in their sports programming. Delve into the history and impact of Title IX, learn more about the athletes at the forefront of the struggle, and explore how additional changes could lead to equality in sports. “Girls are socialized to know . . . that gender roles are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. . . . When these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to telling them that’s not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports?” —Muffet McGraw, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Notre Dame “Fighting for equal rights and equal opportunities entails risk. It demands you put yourself in harm’s way by calling out injustice when it occurs. Sometimes it’s big things, like a boss making overtly sexist remarks or asserting they won’t hire women. But far more often, it’s little, seemingly innocuous, things . . . that sideline the women whose work you depend on every day. You can use your privilege to help those who don’t have it. It’s really as simple as that.” —Liz Elting, women’s rights advocate
This perceptive, lively study explores U.S. women's sport through historical "points of change": particular products or trends that dramatically influenced both women's participation in sport and cultural responses to women athletes. Beginning with the seemingly innocent ponytail, the subject of the Introduction, scholar Jaime Schultz challenges the reader to look at the historical and sociological significance of now-common items such as sports bras and tampons and ideas such as sex testing and competitive cheerleading. Tennis wear, tampons, and sports bras all facilitated women’s participation in physical culture, while physical educators, the aesthetic fitness movement, and Title IX encouraged women to challenge (or confront) policy, financial, and cultural obstacles. While some of these points of change increased women's physical freedom and sporting participation, they also posed challenges. Tampons encouraged menstrual shame, sex testing (a tool never used with male athletes) perpetuated narrowly-defined cultural norms of femininity, and the late-twentieth-century aesthetic fitness movement fed into an unrealistic beauty ideal. Ultimately, Schultz finds that U.S. women's sport has progressed significantly but ambivalently. Although participation in sports is no longer uncommon for girls and women, Schultz argues that these "points of change" have contributed to a complex matrix of gender differentiation that marks the female athletic body as different than--as less than--the male body, despite the advantages it may confer.
