The Feminization of Wrestling: The Origins of Female’s Wrestling in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 1971–1987

Abstract

Wrestling is widely regarded as a masculine activity, yet a feminization of the sport over the last decades has given rise to a unique style termed ‘female’s wrestling’. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France is the main birthplace of female wrestling, not only nationally but in the world. Women wrestlers in this region made their emergence in this traditionally male world, first gaining acceptance as practitioners, and then as competitors on a national and international level. Female wrestling developed and institutionalized in France before it expanded internationally. The first club ever to open a female wrestling section was in Calonne-Ricouart in Pas-de-Calais in 1971, showing a desire for equal access that dates back 50 years. Later, the establishment of the Tourcoing Wrestling Club, in the same region, demonstrates some of the difficulties encountered in developing the sport, yet also the successes in pushing the French Wrestling Federation to consider female’s wrestling as an official sport. By 1975, female wrestlers could get a licence, but they could not participate in official competitions until the 1980s, when the international governing body for amateur wrestling, United World Wrestling, finally recognized this new sport.