Women of Color in Society and Sport

Abstract

This article reviews literature that discusses parallels between women of color in society and sport. Although special emphasis is placed on African American women's social, historical, and sport traditions, information on other ethnic groups' socioeconomic status and participation in sport is included. The discussion focuses on the absence or silence of diverse ethnic women within the mainstream of society, sport, and scholarship and summarizes literature that highlights intersections of gender, race, and socioeconomic class. Research completed on women of color in sport is reviewed using Douglas's analysis of the levels of research. A call is made for more scholarship on women of color from diverse ethnic backgrounds and different social realities in order to have more inclusive womanist/feminist scholarship and race-relations theory.