The New York City Marathon, one of the most awaited events in the city organised by the Amateur Athletic Union, will kick off on Sunday. ABC news has reported that close to half of the entire lineup for the marathon are women noted that the famous protest of the “Six Who Sat” will be commemorated as the marathon begins on Sunday.

The “Six Who Sat” protestors completely changed the face of the NYC marathon in terms of women’s participation in it. Till the 1970s, women were not allowed to participate in the race as it was thought that running a race would affect reproductive health.

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There was much structural misogyny in how the marathon was organised back then. Many specialists from that era claimed that if women ran in marathons, it could result in their uterus falling out 

That women cannot participate in the marathon changed in 1972 when the Union announced that women can run. However, the misogyny was evident even here as the new rule said that women will have to run a separate race which will be either 10 minutes before the actual marathon or 10 minutes after.

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To protest the inherent misogynistic nature of the new rule, six women, Lynn Blackstone, Pat Barrett, Liz Franceschini, Nina Kuscsik, Cathy Miller, and Jane Muhrcke, protested the Union’s decision and called for the race to be equal for both genders.

Their protest eventually paid off and the rule that said women would start 10 minutes early or late was scrapped. Many of the myths associated with women running in marathons were also dispelled due to the protest. 

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Their act of courage has transformed the NYC Marathon into an event where today 50% of the participants are women.

Not only in the New York City Marathon, the protest led by the six women also ensured that women would be competing on equal terms with men in all events of marathon sports.