ATHLETICS HURT WOMEN by President Eliot

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 30, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 13.

ATHLETICS HURT WOMEN.

By President Eliot

[By President Eliot, of Harvard.]

WOMEN will never compete with the men's colleges in athletics. I see absolutely no possibility of that ever taking place. Women do not seek the competition, and it would be of no benefit to them.

Women were not originally intended for such violent exercises as man, and some things they go into must strain them. For a woman to put the shot is preposterous. There may be women living who are made in such a strange, unnatural way that it is not injurious for them to put the shot, but for the majority of women it would be enough to hurt them for life.

Boating is also bad for women. Women's colleges do not have crews to any great extent, but the women who do go into boating will not last long in their athletic life. Women's athletics are a good thing in moderation, but for them to try to do all that their brothers do is a mistake. They can never attain to what the men are doing, and will only hurt themselves in the attempt.