How Women Won the Marathon and Changed Our View of Gender
When Bobbi Gibb tried to enter the Boston Marathon in 1966, she was told women were not “physiologically able to run twenty-six miles.” Even when she snuck in and finished the marathon, the running federations, medical community, and broader culture continued to tell women they weren’t capable of such feats of endurance.
This talk explores the nearly twenty years between Gibb’s run and when the women’s marathon was finally entered into the 1984 Olympic Games. It’s the story of how women from different walks of life came together to change our social ideas about what they can and should do.
Speaker Bio
Maggie Mertens is an independent journalist and author. Her work, which often focuses on the intersection between gender, culture, and sport, has appeared in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, and The Guardian, among others. Her first book, Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women, is a national bestseller.
Maggie lives in Seattle.