Women In Sports: Female Firsts In Every Sport

Sport has always been male-centric. Men always had the upper hand and control over it. Moreover, society never wanted women to take up the sport as a career. Be it their male ego, or just the simple want to make women stick to their home, society never promoted women in sports. Therefore, every time a female broke into a sport, was a revolutionary event. One after one, they all gone against the flow and did what no one could believe they could do. In the fourth episode of our weekly series, "Women In Sports", we will list out all those women who were "Female Firsts In Every Sport".

Check out the last episodes of the series.

Women In Sports: Female Firsts In Every Sport

We have tired to list out the every first female in every sport. The list is made alphabetically.

Female Firsts in Archery

Archery is one of those game that encouraged gender equality more than any other sport. Archery was first introduced by the British Royal Families. Even there is say that the second wife of English King Henry VIII, is said to have used archery to help seduce her husband. However, in 1904 archery was introduced in the Olympics as a women event.

It is recorded that Matilda Howell is the first women to participate in the women archery in 1904 Olympics.

Read the full story here.

Female Firsts in Badminton

1890- The first-ever female all-England badminton championships were held.

1992: First Women's Single Match in Olympics. Susi Susanti was one of the stars in Women Badminton that time.

Female Firsts In Baseball

1876: Lizzie Arlington became the first-ever female to play organized baseball in the 19th century.

1931: Virne Beatrice became the first female baseball player to play in a major league.

1943: Mamie Johnson became the first woman in baseball to play against men professionals.

1998: Ila Borders, became the first woman to win a men's pro baseball game.

2006: Effa Manley became the the first ever female to be inducted in the Baseball's Hall of Fame.

2009: Justine Siegal became the first-ever female to coach a men's team in professional baseball.

2020: Alyssa Nakken became the first-ever full time female coach in Major League Baseball.

Female Firsts In Basketball

Just like Archery and Badminton, women also found their space in Basketball as soon as the game was invented.

1979: Ann Meyers became the first female to train with a NBA team, the Indiana Pacers.

1986: Nancy Lieberman became the first woman to play in a men's pro league. She also played in the Los Angele's Team as well.

1997: Violet Palmer, became the first female to officiate an NBA game.

Female Firsts In Boxing

1876: First female boxing match in America. The match was between ell Saunders and Rose Harland.

1904: Women Boxing introduced in the Olympics.

1954: Barbara Buttrick became the first female boxer to have a fight broadcast on national television.

1975: Caroline Svendsen became the first female to have boxing license.

Read the full history of women' boxing here.

Female Firsts In Chess

Vera Menchik was the first female to participate in Men's Chess. She was also the first-ever Women's World Chess Champion.

Female Firsts In Cricket

1745: First Female Cricket match was played in England.

1887: First Women cricket club was set up in Yorkshire named "The White Heather Club".

1926: Women's Cricket Association was founded.

1934: First Women's Test Match between England and Australia.

1935: Myrtle Maclagan became the first-ever female to score a test century.

Read Also: Longest career in ODI Cricket History: Mithali Raj in Elite list

Female Firsts In Football

1895: First female football match was played.

2018: Ada Hegerberg became the first female Ballon d'Or winner.

2020: Stephanie Frappart became the first female referee to officiate in a Champions League Match.

2021: Rebecca Welch became the first female referee appointed to EFL match.

2021: Stephanie Frappart became the first female referee to officiate in a Men's World Cup Qualifier match.

Read Also: Women In Sports: Female Soccer Players Who Inspired The World

Female Firsts In Golf

1542: Mary, Queen of Scots recorded as the first-ever female golfer.

1938: Babe Didrikson Zaharias became the first female to play on the PGA Tour in the Los Angeles Open.

1996: Karrie Webbs became the first LGPA golfer to earn $1 million in a single season

Female Firsts In ICE Hockey

1992: Manon Rheaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game.

Female Firsts in Karate

1980: Women were allowed to participate in the World Karate Championships.

Female Firsts in Mixed Martial Arts

1995: First-ever women's MMA tournament held in Japan

1997: Becky Levi defeated Betty Fagan in first ever recorded female MMA competition in the United States.

2012: Ronda Rousey became the first female MMA fighter signed by UFC.

Female Firsts in Olympics

1990: First Olympic game to feature female athletes.

1990:  Hélène de Pourtalès of Switzerland became the first woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Moreover, she was also the first-ever female Olympic champion.

1990: Charlotte Cooper became the first female individual champion. She won the women's singles tennis competition in 1990 Olympics in Paris.

Female Firsts in Powerlifting

1987: First time women power-lifters competed at the World Weightlifting Championships .

Female Firsts in Rugby

1884: Emily Valentine became the first-female to play Rugby.

1991: First-ever Women's Rugby World Cup

Female First in Running

1926: Violet Piercy became the first woman to run a marathon.

1954: Diane Leather became the first female runner to run a mile in less than 5 minutes.

1980: Mary Decker became the first woman to run a mile in under 4:20.

2002: Rosie Swale-Pope became the first woman to "run-around-the-world".

Female Firsts in Tennis

1884- Women's singles tennis competitions were added to the Wimbledon.

1887: Ellen Hansell became the first-eve women's U.S open champion.

1953: Maureen Connolly became the first woman to win a Grand Slam.

Female Firsts in Track & Field

1928: Betty Robinson became the first woman to win Olympic gold in Track & Field.

1971: Debbie Brill became the first woman to high jump six feet.

Female Firsts in Volleyball

1986: The Women's Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA) was created.

1987: First women's volleyball event took place in California.

Women in sports always tried to make changes. Everything they did was revolutionary. The women in sports still faces gender discrimination. This was our try to list together every little revolutionary moment in history of women's sports.