Print Media and the History of Women’s Sport in Africa

The Kenyan Case of Barriers to International Achievement

Bibliographic Data

ID12002660
AuthorsMichelle M Sikes (corresponding author), Michelle Sikes
Year2015
Volume43
Pages323-345
Publication date2015-12-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory in Africa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0361-5413 • E-ISSN: 1558-2744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/hia.2015.28
OpenAlexW2220086643
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited25

This article explores one source through which African women’s sport history can be drawn and interpreted: the sport sections of African newspapers. In the case of Kenya, the major dailies, Daily Nation and The East African Standard , are repositories of information pertaining to the challenges that confronted female athletes. Taking into account the history and development of these media, the article addresses the question of why did Kenyan women lag behind their male counterparts in entering the sport at an international level? Focusing on the early post-colonial period, it is argued that institutional barriers abroad as well as economic and cultural factors at home disproportionately disadvantaged female runners in their career progression. These conclusions would be difficult to substantiate without investigating the Kenyan press, a valuable source for anyone seeking to access information about the lives of the women who have contributed to Africa’s sport history

Athletes · Colonial period · Colonialism · Disadvantaged · History of Africa · Kenya · Newspaper · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law · Medicine · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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