A Window of Opportunity? Preliminary Thoughts on Women's Sport in Post-war Britain

Although much research has been undertaken into women's sport in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, little attention has been paid to the mid-twentieth century. Focusing on Britain's highly successful but largely forgotten elite female athletes of the period, this paper will demonstrate that they were acclaimed at the time by press and public alike and provided a variety of sporting role models for girls growing up in the 1950s. Previously under-researched material, including newspapers, magazines, television, biographies and coaching manuals, suggests a more positive sporting culture for females than gender historians have led us to believe. It would appear, however, that the potential for significant change was not realized and that this window of opportunity for women athletes closed in the late 1960s.