ABSTRACT
What is it that gives Margaret Stansfeld the claim to be considered one of the most significant contributors in England to the expansion of women's opportunities to enjoy sport and exercise? Firstly, and most obviously, she was the founder of one of the first and foremost of the women's physical training colleges, and its principal for over 40 years. She was both at the start and at the heart of a new profession, that of the female physical education teacher, a profession which was unusual in that it was not one dominated by men. Women like Stansfeld created, established and developed something new - a distinctively female tradition, in which men played little or no part. l She had the opportunity, which she grasped with enormous relish, to exert influence directly over 1200 young women, her students. They were trained to the highest standards, which they passed on as 'games mistresses' to generations of largely middle-class schoolgirls. It was, in turn, through the influence of such teachers, that generations of girls first gained their experience of a variety of forms of physical activity, and this mediation informed their attitudes to their own bodies as they grew up. Secondly, Stansfeld promoted the acceptance of physical activities for young women, both in challenging contemporary concerns about the problematic nature of vigorous exercise for women; and by promoting the academic and professional credentials of physical education, through the influence she exerted as a founder member of the Ling Association, from 1900, and more especially by persuading the University of London to offer a Diploma in Physical Education in 1935. Thirdly, she encouraged the spread of physical activities, for social reasons to working-class girls and women, including both exercise and leisure pursuits.
