From banned to acclaimed

“Women shall be prohibited from the practice of sports incompatible with the conditions of their nature, in observance of which the National Sports Council must supply the necessary instructions to the country's sport entities.” This piece of legislation was signed by then President Getúlio Vargas, in April, 1941, during the Estado Novo dictatorship, which ended in the 70's. The law imposed considerable limitations to women's participation in sports.

Thus, women were banned from all combat disciplines, as well as football, indoor football, beach football, water polo, polo, rugby, weightlifting, and baseball.

Women's fight for a place in the sports world comes as part of a series of demands for rights which changed society all across the globe early in the 1920's. In 1932, the year women were allowed to vote in Brazil, swimmer Maria Lenk became the first athlete to represent the nation in the Olympic Games, in Los Angeles.

In Brazil, women's involvement in sport competitions increased more slowly than it did in North America and Europe, says Katia Rubio, a researcher at the University of São Paulo (USP). Women's ban in sports, she says, led to far-reaching consequences that could be seen even after President Vargas's decree was no longer in effect.

Rubio explains that, even after the law fell into disuse, families would not allow girls to play football or other sports. “'My daughter is no butch,' it was often said, so girls wouldn't play sports, they wouldn't play football, because that was for boys,” she says.

Besides, the scholar says, to justify their discrimination, sports honchos availed themselves of false medical pretenses. “We can observe in the first half of the 20th century the rise of academic discourses, especially among medical practitioners, which attempted to provide men in leading positions with reasons to keep women out.”

As a case in point, Rubio mentions Baron Pierre do Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic Games. “When Coubertin himself justifies women's ban from the Games describing their nerves as fragile, it's not the physical aspect he's talking about. He was claiming women were hysterical and shouldn't compete, because competitions are for men, for those who can face a duel.”

Women were left out even in disciplines where they were more well-regarded, like swimming and tennis. “Brazilian women would participate in a very selective manner. [Middle-class and aristocratic] women, who had access to the clubs, played sports as women would in Europe. These are the women who would stand out in swimming, tennis, and fancy diving—also in the Olympic Games.”

Rubio further notes that the lower-class women who managed to find a space in sports usually competed in track and field.

World's tennis champion

A four-time world champion in the 50's and 60's, Maria Esther Bueno, from São Paulo, remembers how hard it was for her to find female models in her day. “The media wouldn't make things this easy for us, so there was no inspiration for me, except for the fact I loved what I was doing,” she says, adding that she had to look in herself as well as friends and family for support.

“Women have always played sports, but were never given as much attention as men have,” she notes. Esther Bueno boasts seven single titles from Grand Slam tournaments, which include the world's four main championships, held in Melbourne, Paris, London, and New York.

And the ban was lifted

The list of sports banned for women was repealed in 1971, but no female medalists were seen until 2008, when Ketleyn Quadros won a bronze in judo and the football team earned a silver in Beijing. Quadros was the first Brazilian to scoop an individual Olympic medal. She notes that her career brought her close to her biggest idols: her fellow Brazilian judokas.

“We relate to no other than ourselves. We're outdoing ourselves, working hard every hour. The inspiration comes from our own companions and their stories, from seeing how they practice and work together. It's really encouraging,” Quadros says.

Quadros said she heard a lot from her coaches about how women were discriminated against for being judo wrestlers. “I didn't suffer as much as [the female athletes in] the previous generations. People used to say it was a masculine sport, not fit for women, that there was too much contact. That really happened, but by the time I started these warriors had already fought a lot, so it was easier.”

The gold came in 2008, after two bronze medals (1996 and 2000).

In Nunes's view, women's judo started to grow after athletes gained greater physical strength and the mindset changed. “The technical aspect changed a lot,” Nunes says. “As for the strength, we had to say goodbye to our lean arms,” she recounts, highlighting the difference between men and women during the training. “It's not that we can't stand the training, but it had to be different. We've got a gynecologist in the team, as well as a psychologist and coaches who talk to us. That helps a lot.”

Volleyball: gold for the ladies in 2008

Setter Macrís Carneiro is grateful to the athletes from the previous decades, who paved the way for the next generations by facing up to sexism and other obstacles along their journey. “It really moves me to see that women are not only doing what's traditionally seen as women's tasks, but also making more and more achievements and showing their talent.”

In the case for volleyball, women were forced to cope with the lack of support and sponsorship, and poor results. While they fought for their place in the sun, female athletes saw the men's team earn the first Olympic silver in 1984 and the gold in 1992. The first medal for the ladies came in 1996: a bronze, but with the sheen of gold, brought by a team made up of Márcia Fu, Ana Moser, Virna, and Fofão.

Carneiro grew up as a huge admirer of setter Fofão's style. She went from fan to colleague after they played on the same team. “[Fofão] is a simple person, and very warm to everyone. Her attitudes are firm but she manages to keep up the charisma.”

The gold came in 2008, after two bronze medals (1996 and 2000). Fofão was everywhere to be seen, with the highest number of victories in Brazil's Olympic volleyball. “Men's volleyball was given more attention, higher pay, sponsorship, and we knew that we would be left behind until the day we actually won something. We had to fight, show what we've got, and prove we could do it,” says Fofão, who retired from the courts.

As with judo, women's achievements in volleyball only came after their strength was brought to everybody's attention and neither the authorities nor the law were capable of turning their eyes from it. “Our training changed so we could grow even stronger,” Fofão recounts. She explains that there was a lot of resistance from the athletes themselves, but, as the results started to appear and their skills improved, their faith in the new training was manifest.

In Fofão's opinion, women have been successful in fighting prejudice. “There's always been the impression that women couldn't do good things, but people change their minds when they see how hard-working, driven, and disciplined women are when they take it upon themselves to do something,” she said.

Nunes—who is still striving for a place in the Olympics, but boasts a number of titles in Brazil and the Americas—says that the country is strongly prejudiced against women in general. “In sports, however, we can fight our way to glory—because we don't depend on men to do well, but in ourselves alone.”

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira