Playing like ladies: Basketball, netball and feminine restraint

Abstract

Women's basket ball, which was adapted into the game now known as netball, developed in the late nineteenth-century in the US when education for women was in its early stages. Exercise in these institutions was promoted by early educationists, partly to offset the deleterious effects of 'brain work' for women. While vigorous exercise for women was a contested activity, basket ball and then netball in England were accepted because despite being vigorous games they appeared to conform to dominant understandings of femininity as a form of physical restraint. This acceptance saw netball become the leading women's game in many Commonwealth countries throughout the twentieth century. Both games are examined as cultural artefacts, embodying the values of their time.