The rationale behind Coubertin's opposition to women competing in the Olympic Games

by Natalia Camps Y Wilant & George Hirthler

On the day he retired from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Prague in 1925 at the age of 62, Pierre de Coubertin reminded his colleagues that the great global movement he had created was built on an all-inclusive ethic: "They [the Olympic Games] are global. All people must be allowed in without debate" (Coubertin 1925 [2000], 558).

And yet, across the previous 31 years as he built the Movement from a fledgling idea to a worldwide phenomenon—and even into his retirement—Coubertin was opposed to the participation of female athletes in the Olympic Games. This contradiction lies at the heart of a controversy that has haunted his reputation and even led modern cancel culture critics to label him a misogynist—an unjust accusation that ignores the historical context of his times and, more importantly, Coubertin's broader position on women in sport.

From today's perspective, any objection to women competing in sports is unthinkable, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries social mores were entirely different, and opposition to women taking part in sport, not to mention attending college, taking up a profession, voting or having independent public activities, was the cultural norm. Although the roles of women were evolving, leading countries such as France, England and the United States all operated on a double standard of 'separate spheres' in gender equality.

In the broadest sense, Coubertin wanted everyone to engage in sport. "Sport is," he wrote, "the birthright of all, equally and to the same degree, and nothing can replace it" (Coubertin 1932, 213)[1]. But given the paternalistic society he was raised in and the chivalrous code he lived by, protecting the dignity of women was a high priority—and therein lies the basis of his opposition to women competing in the Olympic Games. "If some women want to play football or box, let them, provided that the event takes place without spectators, because the spectators who flock to such competitions are not there to watch a sport" (Coubertin 1928 [2000], 189). In essence, he wanted to protect women from those whose motives were more lecherous than athletic.

Despite his adversarial position, he never stood directly in the way of women competing in the Games and, in fact, left the decisions up to the Organising Committee in every host city. Under his IOC presidency, from Paris 1900 to Paris 1924, the number of women taking part in the Games grew sixfold, from 22 to 135. Over the course of his presidency, women competed in golf, archery, equestrian, tennis, diving, sailing, fencing, swimming and figure skating events.

Parallel to the Games, Coubertin embraced the inclusion of female artists, writers and musicians in the Olympic Arts Competitions. Beginning under his presidency in 1912, the programme grew steadily, with 148 women competing and winning 10 medals by 1948.

When Alice Milliat launched the Women's Olympic Games in Paris in the early 1920s, Coubertin stood in opposition. A decade earlier he had written that adding "a little female Olympiad" (Coubertin 1912 [2000], 713) to the Games would be too much work for the organisers, and that a feminine Olympiad would be "impractical, uninteresting, ungainly and […] improper" (Coubertin 1912 [2000], 713). Those words earned him the ire of feminist historians and the occasional accusation of misogyny.

Nevertheless, in his writings on female education, there is clear evidence of the emergence of a very progressive view of women's rights. As an educational reformer, Coubertin aligned with Jules Ferry and Jules Simon, both advocates for women's education. Although he believed that the highest calling of a woman was to be "the companion of man, the future mother of a family" (Coubertin 1901, 281)[2], he recognised—as few of his time did—that "this is what we strive to accomplish when we aspire to achieve gender equality" (Coubertin 1901, 282)[3].

Even more, he wrote in 1901 that education should enable women's independence if necessary: "Let the laws protect her, put her in a position to resist, and even to escape from marital tyranny, nothing more legitimate" and for" those who do not marry, ways to earn an honest living" (Coubertin 1901, 23)[4].

Those are very enlightened views within the context of his time, even advocating divorce, and allude again to protecting the dignity of women.

Throughout his career, Coubertin called upon and collaborated with women. Coubertin was embraced and celebrated by Juliette Adam, one of the leading French feminists of her day and the founder and editor of La Nouvelle Revue. Calling Coubertin "mon cher collaborateur", she championed and published his political writings and his fiction. Others, such as Lady Somerset in England and Princess Marie of Sweden, helped push the Olympic Movement's agenda forward at Coubertin's request.

Drawing his inspiration from the 'men only' model of Ancient Olympia, Coubertin was reinforced in his bias in modern times by the Much Wenlock Olympian Games in Shropshire, England, which had spanned 50 years, and the four editions of the Zappas Olympic Games in Athens between 1859 and 1890, neither of which admitted female competitors. But Coubertin was aware of the changing role of women in society and in the field of sport. Despite his opposition, he admitted at one point that "ultimately the public will decide" (Coubertin 1931, 6)[5].

It is clear from Olympic history that the inclusion of women continued to advance slowly after Coubertin retired. At the Olympic Games Amsterdam 1928, 10 per cent of the competitors were women; three decades later at the Olympic Games Rome 1960, that had risen to only 11 per cent.

Anita DeFrantz, a champion of the rights of all athletes, but particularly women, noted the paltry gains women had made in the following 16 years between Rome 1960 and Montreal 1976, where she won a bronze medal in rowing. She observed that, despite the addition of women's rowing and basketball, "in the 1976 Montreal Games and the Olympic Winter Games, women comprised only 21 percent of the athletes" [DeFrantz, 2000, 164]. Clearly the historical bias against women in the Games remained the cultural norm for decades after Coubertin had passed from the scene.

References:

• Camps Y Wilant, Natalia. 2016. "A Female Medallist at the 1928 Olympic Art Competitions: The Sculptress Renée Sintenis." The International Journal of the History of Sport 33,13: 1483-1499.
• _ _ _. 2023. "Mon cher collaborateur – Pierre de Coubertin, George Hohrod and the editor Juliette Adam." International Journal of Olympic History 31,1: 3-8.
• Coubertin, Pierre de. 1901*. Notes sur l´éducation publique*.
• _ _ _. 1912. "Les femmes aux Jeux Olympiques." Revue Olympique, No. 12 (July): 109-111.
• _ _ _. 1925. Discours prononcé à l'ouverture des Congrès Olympiques à l'Hôtel de Ville de Prague le 29 mai 1925 par le Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
• _ _ _. 1928. "L'utilisation pédagogique de l'activité sportive." Speech at l'Aula de l'Université de Lausanne.
• _ _ _. 1931. "La bataille continue." Bulletin du Bureau International de Pédagogie Sportive, No. 5: 5-7.
• _ _ _. 1932. Mémoires Olympiques, Lausanne, B.I.P.S., Aix-en-Provence.
• _ _ _. 2000. Pierre de Coubertin 1863-1937 – Olympism: Selected Writings, edited by Norbert Müller (on behalf of the International Olympic Committee).
• DeFrantz, Anita L. and Josh Young. 2020. My Olympic Life: A Memoir. San Antonio.
• Kerber, Linda K. 1988. "Separate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman's Place: The Rhetoric of Women's History." The Journal of American History 75,1: 9-39.

Footnotes:

[1] Originally published in French, English translation provided by the authors.
[2] Originally published in French, English translation provided by the authors.
[3] Originally published in French, English translation provided by the authors.
[4] Originally published in French, English translation provided by the authors.
[5] Originally published in French, English translation provided by the authors.