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Date of Award
Spring 2012
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Major
International Studies - Middle East Concentration
First Advisor
Zayde Gordon Antrim
Second Advisor
Janet Bauer
Third Advisor
Vijay Prashad
Abstract
Soccer, and other sports, has provided and will continue to give women an arena for change and has positively contributed to the evolution of a democratic and egalitarian global society. This thesis will analyze the local, national and international efforts striving to empower women by providing them with the opportunities to play soccer as a part of the larger feminist movement fighting for women’s rights and equality. In order to understand these efforts, the reader will be provided with a history of the Women’s International Sports Movement (WISM) and an explanation of the social, economic, legal and political obstacles faced by women worldwide. An analysis of the experiences of Israeli women with soccer and other sports at the local, national and international levels will give the reader the context needed to understand one locale where women are struggling to overcome societal constraints. Additionally, the combined lack of Equal Rights legislation, such as Title IX, and the unique sport-militarism-nationalism linkage has played a defining role in the shortage of sports opportunities faced by Israeli women. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the future role WISM must play in Israel to achieve a fully egalitarian environment for women’s sports. Also, this thesis will help the reader understand the status of women’s sports internationally, as well as at the local and national levels in Israel, in the hopes of supporting and furthering the efforts of the many female athletes and other feminists involved in this struggle.
Recommended Citation
Pepper, Lily F., "Leveling The Playing Field: Women's Soccer as an Arena for Global Change". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2012.
Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/177
Comments
Senior thesis completed at Trinity College for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. Accessible to members of the Trinity community only.