Participation of women in the Olympics 20% minimum presence of women on their committee. The first Olympic Games to feature female athletes was the 1900 Games in Paris. Hélène de Pourtalès of Switzerland became the first woman to compete at the Olympic Games and became the first female Olympic champion by being a part of the winning team in the first 1 to 2 ton sailing event on May 22, 1900. Briton Charlotte Cooper became the first female individual champion by winning the women's singles tennis competition on July 11, 1900. Tennis and golf were the only sports where women could compete in individual disciplines. 22
Women in the Americas invading military forces sexually abused and seized women forcing them into concubinage. Equally, officially hostile to Two-Spirit sexual practices, Europeans used gender-variant native people to service their own needs. Violence was tolerated, and in some instances encouraged by priests, to tame women, keep them from sin, and to keep them obedient to their husbands. Iberian women did not arrive in the New World until battles had been won and towns and cities had been established. Thirty Spanish women were allowed to participate in Columbus' third voyage of 1498 if they were willing to become permanent inhabitants of the Spanish colony.