History of Swiss feminine gymnastics between competition and feminization (1950–1990)

Abstract

Between 1908 and 1985 in Switzerland, there was a clear division between female and male national gymnastics associations. Beyond some links, the two institutions conducted their own policies and promoted their own practices and forms of gymnastics. They made different choices in the 1960s and 1970s, and on the whole female gymnastics saw greater changes and was more innovative, with the emergence of rhythmic gymnastics as a ‘flagship’ competitive discipline, early experiences in modern physical culture and fitness, etc. Across these developments, this article analyses successively the conditions of the preservation of control over female gymnastics in the 1950s, how those gymnasts and the female national association’s leaders used their institutional autonomy to develop many practical innovations and break technical and institutional boundaries during the 1960s and 1970s, before managing the reunification process with male gymnastics, and facing new symbolic boundaries.