Elsa Roth (1906–2000)

Biographical perspectives on a gender history of Swiss ski culture

The dissertation project deals with the biography of the Swiss sports functionary, ski racer and ski instructor Elsa Roth (1906-2000) and looks through this biographical lens at aspects of Swiss ski culture and the alpine ski sport in the 20th century, especially against a gender, social and organisational historical background.

The aim of the work is, on the one hand, to work out the gender-specific structures and conditions within which Elsa Roth and other actors in ski culture in Switzerland in the 20th century operated, negotiated and, which they helped to shape. On the other hand, Elsa Roth's life story and its ski culture dimension will be researched as an example. So far, it has been shown that although ski culture was male-dominated, the feminine was not marginalised in contrast to other sports. In addition, there were endeavours by women, for example in the person of Elsa Roth, to actively shape ski culture and alpine ski sport in particular. These were generally accepted, although there certainly seemed to be limits. For my research, I draw on a broad corpus of sources located in archives in Switzerland and abroad, including private and state documents, association and club files and contemporary publications. I analyse this against the background of gender and social history and use the narrative form of an exemplary biography. In addition, one chapter is dedicated to the methodological question of the representativeness of such biographical perspectives.

By researching gender and role models within sport and sport administration, the dissertation project makes a contribution to understanding current social debates on equal opportunities. The relevance of the topic is demonstrated, for example, by the gender quota of 40 per cent in the management of national sports associations in Switzerland that has been in force since the beginning of 2025. At the same time, the project contributes to closing the research gap in the gender history of sport, which was stylised as the Swiss national sport in the 20th century.