The Female Sculler, 1920 Style!

Still during the 1920s very few women could, or were allowed to, join rowing clubs around the world. Some rowing clubs in Scandinavia and Germany, and colleges in England and in the U.S. had female rowers. The ordinary view, however, seems to have been at this time that women were not athletes - they were not actually supposed to ‘break a sweat’. Instead they were objects for the male on-lookers to enjoy. A good example – or bad, if you like – I found in a jubilee book of the Swedish rowing club, Göteborgs Roddförening which in 1929 celebrated the club’s first 50 years. The club did not have any women as members at this time, which maybe explains the choice of the illustration above – a sculling pin-up girl!