Semi-professional female speed skaters in the 19th century
As we see in the picture presented here the Friesian women were in general wearing clothes that covered all their body. It will be clear that it is hard to skate in these clothes, led alone that one could participate in speed skating competitions.
I have mentioned before that in 1805 a very big championship with 130 female speed skaters took place. Because there were no sport clothes at that time, men and women took off their winter coats and eve some more clothes to be able to move more freely. In 1805 this did not lead to any reaction but after the second championship for women in 1809 the discussion started.
I have mentioned before that in 1805 a very big championship with 130 female speed skaters took place. Because there were no sport clothes at that time, men and women took off their winter coats and eve some more clothes to be able to move more freely. In 1805 this did not lead to any reaction but after the second championship for women in 1809 the discussion started.
Philantrope complains
A man who describes himself as a friend of the fair sex and a lover of skating and speed skating, writes in a high prestigious journal, under the pseudonym, Philantrope,that women on skates are nothing special. That also holds for speed skating for men, but for women he found speed skating extremely objectionable.
“ The destination of women is a life at home and the motherly care, therefore women cannot expect any advantage when they are placed outside their silent surroundings. They should not be pressed, against the law of the Creation, to exaggerated force and violent movements by our sex that has the obligation to protect and help them. To stimulate moral and simple country girls to such insane games is below the character of well thinking people. Shame forbids that the country girls in public put off all their top dresses, perceived by thousands of onlookers of both genders, just to compete in a race in which her health is in danger and the gracefulness of her body will show itself in the worst manner.”
The reaction of A.F.A
Also using a pseudonym, A.F.A. gave a reaction to the complaints of Philantrope. In a sense he agrees that women were preparing for a life in the family also when they had a temporary job in the household of her parents or of another family but he suggested that these women also could have occasionally some fun outside the house. In fact they skate any way so why not in a regular way in a competition. This once in a while event will not destroy their destiny as house wife in a family.
He also suggests that the distances which they skate are so short that the good skaters can do these efforts easily several times.
He also appreciated the speed with which they were moving over the ice.
A man who describes himself as a friend of the fair sex and a lover of skating and speed skating, writes in a high prestigious journal, under the pseudonym, Philantrope,that women on skates are nothing special. That also holds for speed skating for men, but for women he found speed skating extremely objectionable.
“ The destination of women is a life at home and the motherly care, therefore women cannot expect any advantage when they are placed outside their silent surroundings. They should not be pressed, against the law of the Creation, to exaggerated force and violent movements by our sex that has the obligation to protect and help them. To stimulate moral and simple country girls to such insane games is below the character of well thinking people. Shame forbids that the country girls in public put off all their top dresses, perceived by thousands of onlookers of both genders, just to compete in a race in which her health is in danger and the gracefulness of her body will show itself in the worst manner.”
The reaction of A.F.A
Also using a pseudonym, A.F.A. gave a reaction to the complaints of Philantrope. In a sense he agrees that women were preparing for a life in the family also when they had a temporary job in the household of her parents or of another family but he suggested that these women also could have occasionally some fun outside the house. In fact they skate any way so why not in a regular way in a competition. This once in a while event will not destroy their destiny as house wife in a family.
He also suggests that the distances which they skate are so short that the good skaters can do these efforts easily several times.
He also appreciated the speed with which they were moving over the ice.
Temporarily Philantrope wins the debate
The reaction of Philantrope was fears. He mentioned: “what me annoys is that our nice, amiable, beautiful poor country girls let themselves seduce by attractive prizes to become an object of popular amusement. Let foreign women, often of doubtful moral, accept this activity to survive but let our young Frisian country girls not degrade themselves to an exhaustive battle on the ice just for a couple of golden jewels. That is below any level.” He repeats also that by the increased speed the women lose all their charm.
His arguments had success because untill 1823 no women skating championship was organized. When one tried to organize one in that year in IJst, lord Idsert Aebinga van Humalda who was the governor of Friesland forbid the championship and so it was cancelled.
However in 1838 the next women championship was organized and this one was indeed held and after that one many more championships for women or pairs followed in Friesland and elsewhere.
Famous female semi-professional skaters
One of the famous female skaters was already mentioned as a member of the Van den Berg family. She skated mainly in pairs with her brothers but in this way she earned 2655 guilders which she had to share with her partners. But she still earned in this way approximately 1327 guildens or 16.587 euros of today.
Another famous female speed skater was Jantje Hendriks. She skated also mainly championships for pairs, won many and earned as girl of 20 years old, in 1850 a total of 600 guilders which iss 7.500 Euros of today.
Finally, I have to mention the famous skater, Lutske Wester, who was at the top for 20 years with different partners in pair competitions, She won with them in total 2560 guildens and 275 guildens more in individual races for women. From the first amount she got only the half, 1280, and so in total she got 1555 guldens which is close to 20.000 euros of today.
In her normal life she was a rather nice looking women as you can see on the photo.However if we compare this photo with the photo that exist of her skating with one of her partners (see above) one is inclined to say that Philantrope had a point that a lot of the elegance of the women was lost by participating in the speed skating competitions. Fortunately at present the women wear sport clothes and they look much more elegant in our eyes than the clothes they used in the 19th century.
If we go back once more to the photo above, one also wonders how she could win so many races when she was skating as it looks. However, probably they had to stand still for the photo and that created the ugly position.
It is interesting to refer to another part of my website where I showed that women were for a long time not allowed to participate in the long distance skating competitions during the 20th century. If fact it took till 1985 before women were somewhat accepted in these races. This means that women in the mean time had lost a lot of freedoms to participate in championships (Mark Hilberts)
All information mentioned in this section comes from the impressive book of Ron Couwenhoven. There one can find much more details about these championships on short distances and much more, Unfortunately the book in Dutch. Therefore I have given here a brief summary of what I see as most interesting point in the history of the speed skating in the 19th century.
The reaction of Philantrope was fears. He mentioned: “what me annoys is that our nice, amiable, beautiful poor country girls let themselves seduce by attractive prizes to become an object of popular amusement. Let foreign women, often of doubtful moral, accept this activity to survive but let our young Frisian country girls not degrade themselves to an exhaustive battle on the ice just for a couple of golden jewels. That is below any level.” He repeats also that by the increased speed the women lose all their charm.
His arguments had success because untill 1823 no women skating championship was organized. When one tried to organize one in that year in IJst, lord Idsert Aebinga van Humalda who was the governor of Friesland forbid the championship and so it was cancelled.
However in 1838 the next women championship was organized and this one was indeed held and after that one many more championships for women or pairs followed in Friesland and elsewhere.
Famous female semi-professional skaters
One of the famous female skaters was already mentioned as a member of the Van den Berg family. She skated mainly in pairs with her brothers but in this way she earned 2655 guilders which she had to share with her partners. But she still earned in this way approximately 1327 guildens or 16.587 euros of today.
Another famous female speed skater was Jantje Hendriks. She skated also mainly championships for pairs, won many and earned as girl of 20 years old, in 1850 a total of 600 guilders which iss 7.500 Euros of today.
Finally, I have to mention the famous skater, Lutske Wester, who was at the top for 20 years with different partners in pair competitions, She won with them in total 2560 guildens and 275 guildens more in individual races for women. From the first amount she got only the half, 1280, and so in total she got 1555 guldens which is close to 20.000 euros of today.
In her normal life she was a rather nice looking women as you can see on the photo.However if we compare this photo with the photo that exist of her skating with one of her partners (see above) one is inclined to say that Philantrope had a point that a lot of the elegance of the women was lost by participating in the speed skating competitions. Fortunately at present the women wear sport clothes and they look much more elegant in our eyes than the clothes they used in the 19th century.
If we go back once more to the photo above, one also wonders how she could win so many races when she was skating as it looks. However, probably they had to stand still for the photo and that created the ugly position.
It is interesting to refer to another part of my website where I showed that women were for a long time not allowed to participate in the long distance skating competitions during the 20th century. If fact it took till 1985 before women were somewhat accepted in these races. This means that women in the mean time had lost a lot of freedoms to participate in championships (Mark Hilberts)
All information mentioned in this section comes from the impressive book of Ron Couwenhoven. There one can find much more details about these championships on short distances and much more, Unfortunately the book in Dutch. Therefore I have given here a brief summary of what I see as most interesting point in the history of the speed skating in the 19th century.