Figure 1.--Here we see girls playing basketball outdoors at Hillside Home School (Iowa County Wiconsin) about 1900. It was an early progressive school operated by Ellen and Jane Lloyd Jones, aunts of Frank Lloyd Wright. The girls are wearing sailor romper suits with long bloomers.

Schools in Europe began introducing gym/physical education (PE) programs in the early-19th century. Here we are for the most part taling about secondary schools. primary schools were more likely to have recess/morning break where the children did not change into uniforms and just wore their regular clothes. The developing American education system followed suit. And America became a leader in public education at a time when it was still a largely agrarian society. Formal PE was a matter for secondary schools. At first secondary education and physical educatin they were only for boys. This began to change toward the later part of the century. This varied over time and from country to country as we see more secondary schools being opened for girls, America was differnent in that most of the secondary schools that began to pen after the mid-19th century were coed schools. At first we see rather similar unifirms for girls--middy blouses and bloomers. From that beginning we gradually see variatiins such as rompers suits and gym slips. There were also variations within countries from school to school as gym uniforms were commonly a decesion made locally. We do not yet have much information on girls' gym/PE programs and gym uniforms, but have begun to collect information. We have a substantial American archive. Following trend in Europe is somewhat more diffuclt, but we are working on it.

America

American schools had gym programs for both boys and girls. They were largely conducted seaparately, although in recent years some schools have begun to organized coed activities. As American secondary schools were coeducational, we believe that gym programs for girls were strongly influenced by the already existing programs for boys. Gym/PE programs were initially for boys only. They began to appear at American schools (1820s) and by the Civil War were very common in the North. (Public schools did not develop in the South until after the War.) At many schools, girls were prohibited from participating in physical education. [Siedentop] This presumably reflected the attitudes of both school authotities as well as parents. We begin to see some girls doing physical education (late-19th century). As far as we can tell, gym was not as popular with the girls as it was for the boys. It was fairly standard at American high schools to have gym/PE programs for both boys and girls (early-20th century). Both the programs and of course the gym uniforms were different. The emphasis on sports was less true for the girls' gym programs, although this varied over time. The sports component was less important for the girls and the sports were different, although there was some overlap. Girls were not allowed tn participate in contact sports. Major changes occurred in the girls programs during the late-20th century. Congress passed an amendment to the Federal Education Act that prohibited discrimination in school gym and athletic prigrams based on gender. Federal laws were passed requiring public schools to provide physical education to students with disabilities as well (1969-70). This created new opportunities for girls to participate in and compete in athletic programs at both the secondary and college level. Gym uniforms were another gender issue. There were practical differences. Boys could do gym in their regular clothes, but this was not the case for girls. We believe that girls were wearing gym uniforms by the late-19th century. Middy blouses, bloomers, and long stockings were common. They eventually evolved into romper outfits. By the 1960s, the girls' uniforms began to become more similar to the boys' uniforms.

England

Gym, sports, and other ecreationally oriented strenous phyical activities are normally associated with boys and men. Ther are variation in gender roles from culture to culture. Mongol women, for example, had far more freedom and power than women in other patriarchal cultures such as Persia, China, and Cristendom. At a time that the Chinese were binding women’s feet to keep then at home amd limit physical activity, Mongol women were riding horseback, fighting in battles, and tending herds. The first girls (but not adult women) e see engaged in sport were Greeks. In modern times, the first girls we see involved in sports were the girls at English private boarding schools. As ar as we know, this was an English development, although Amelia Bloomer was an American. And the uniforms developed for the girls became standars uniforms for girls' gym and sport for many oyher countries. We are less sure about the deveoment of gils' gym classes in America. There seem to have been two early gym/sport uniforms developed for the girls. The first were dark bloomers worn with middy blouses. The bloomers gradually evolved into romper gym uniforms. Second we layer see a new sports uniform for the girls--the gym slkip. Gradually this became a type of regular school uniform rather than just a gym uniform.

France

Germany

We notice German girls wearing blouses and bloomers for gym. Wesee both middy blouses and Russian bloues. We also see romper suits. Gradually short pamts became more common than the bloomer-style romper pants.

Italy

Sweden

We so not have a lot of information on Swedish gym suits yet. We note Swedish girls wearing romper suits as swim suits. We think they maybe using their school swim suits.

Created: 8:32 PM 5/20/2019
Last updated: 1:12 AM 5/21/2019