Session Information
17 SES 10, Parallel Paper Session
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
Coming from Germany, gymnastics (Turnen in German) appeared in Switzerland in the early 1820s. Its success was almost immediate and the number of male gymnasts practicing within societies increased all along the century. Values such as democracy, patriotism and modernity were connected to the practice of gymnastics.
Gymnastics, as first form of physical education, was introduced in boys’ secondary school in the 1820s-1830s. Girls’ secondary schools, founded around the middle of the century, introduced from the beginning gymnastics as compulsory or optional course. In 1874, federal government established gymnastics as a compulsory subject for all boys over 10. Gymnastics as military preparation became consequently the only school subject depending directly from the national level. Indeed education was run on cantonal level. In the 1880s and 1890s, some local or cantonal governments attempted - successfully or not - to introduce gymnastics in girls’ primary schools. As military preparation was not an argument for introducing gymnastics to girls’ schools, gymnastics promoters had to develop specific argument. This is this process of developing a gendered physical education based mainly upon the idea of difference between male and female body/nature that I would like to examine here. My research questions are the following:
- Which argument was developed to support female gymnastics? Was it based on the need of equal treatment between girls and boys?
- Does it mean that gender specific methods and/or programmes were also developed? If yes, which were the differences between the methods?
- Which were the main objectives of gymnastics? Were they gender-specific?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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