February 6, 2014, Mother Jones
The 2012 London Olympics were huge for female athletes, with more women competing than ever before in Olympic history. In 1900, just 2.2 percent of Olympians were women; by 2012, that number had jumped to 44.3 percent. This week's Sochi Games will offer even more medal stand opportunities, with ski jump including women for the first time since the Winter Olympics began in 1924.
But even while more women are competing in the Olympics today than ever, they're "still not equal in any way," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, a women's advocacy group focusing on issues including sports. The modern Games have carried on a long-standing tradition of keeping women on the sidelines. Weightlifting, boxing, cycling, wrestling, and water polo all were men's-only sports for much of Summer Olympics history, some excluding women for more than a century. The same goes for bobsled and ice hockey, which shut women out for much of the Winter Games' 88-year run. Here's a closer look at each Olympic sport's track record (more after the chart):
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