Creation

• In 1891, James Naismith invented basketball as an indoor, winter activity for the rambunctious boys of the Springfield, Massachusetts, YMCA school. Senda Berensen, a physical education teacher at Smith College, read an article by Naismith and decided to adapt the game for women. A pioneer for gender equality in the workforce, Berensen understood that improving women's health through basketball would improve their chances of gaining equal pay at work, as women were viewed as the weaker sex. Eleven months after adapting the game for women, a game took place between the University of California-Berkeley and Miss Head's School, an all-girls institution in Berkeley. Mt. Holyoke and Sophie Newcomb began playing women's basketball in 1893. The game became popular across the United States and spread to schools like Bryn Mawr and Vassar.
  
  

Rules

• Senda Berenson adapted the men's rules to create a game suitable for proper ladies. The court was sectioned into three areas and players had to remain in their section. Women could only dribble three times in a row. They couldn't steal the ball or hold it for more than three seconds. Once the game caught on in the colleges, the girls played either Senda Berenson's rules or five different variations of men's rules. In 1924, the International Women's Sports Federation was founded, and hosted a version of the Olympics for women's basketball. It would still be 40 years until females were allowed to play basketball in the official Olympic games. According to the WNBA, the first full-court game was finally played in 1971. Though the women's and men's games look similar today, women still play a version of men's rules.
  
  

Attire

• A far cry from the game we know today, women first played in clothing that covered their entire body, resulting in countless injuries. Finally, four years after the creation of the game, Clara Gregory Baer introduced bloomers at Sophie Newcomb College, New Orleans. Though women still had to display neatly combed hair, they were no longer tripping over hems and restricted by corsets. Uniforms grew from the bloomers and, in 1920, women wore stockings, shorts and short-sleeved jerseys. There was still pressure to appear beautiful while playing, which is why, in 1936, a team of athletic women called The Red Heads toured the country playing in makeup against men's teams.
  
  

Reaction

• Society rejected the notion of female athletics, and women's basketball was no exception. Efforts were made to present ladies on the court. Gum chewing and calling players by their last names were seen as vulgar and, therefore, forbidden. Of course, as women continued to play the game, a natural competitive ferocity took over and shrieking and hair pulling followed. Conservative parents forbid their daughters to play and numerous articles were written discussing the dangers of women's basketball. In an attempt to re-establish feminine propriety, female games were turned into social events. Refreshments and even dinners were served afterward. This continued through the 1930s, when beauty pageants were paired with basketball games.
  
  

WNBA

• The concept of the WNBA, the Women's National Basketball Association, was finally approved in 1996. Eight teams competed in the inaugural season: Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Detroit, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah. The Houston Comets became the first team to win a WNBA Championship. Though the women earn significantly less than men, female basketball players continue to forge the way for future women in hopes that, someday, equality is possible.