![Goaltender Marti Riesen playing for Switzerland against the Soviet Union, circa 1950.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/neues-titelbild-300x225.jpg)
Ice hockey — a hard man’s sport?
Sport always reflects gender roles and images. Ice hockey being a rather extreme example. This is largely due to the way in which the sport has evolved.
![Women and men at a bandy game, St. Moritz, 1910.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ch-nb-photoglob-wehrli-ead-wehr-12437-b-1-300x216.jpg)
![A picnic on the ice at St. Moritz, circa 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/picknick-300x203.jpg)
![Elegant ice hockey game in the Grand Hotel at Les Avants, canton of Vaud in the 1920s.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/eishockey-in-les-avants-1920er-jahre-eth-bildarchiv-ans-05519-023-al-flt-300x212.jpg)
![Poster for the Grand Hotel & Belvedere in Davos, 1905.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hans-eggimann-plakat-grand-hotel-belvedere-davos-1905-211x300.jpg)
![Ice hockey match at a boarding school above Vevey, 1907.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/max-sillig-spielt-bandy-mit-seinen-schuelern-1907-aus-bildarchiv-sportmuseum-schweiz-300x205.jpg)
![Berlin skating club versus Brussels ice hockey club at the first European Championships in 1910 at Les Avants near Montreux.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/1910-ice-hockey-european-championships-300x213.jpg)
![Queen's University hockey team, Kingston, Ontario (CA), 1917.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/queens-u-hockey-team-1917-300x235.jpg)
![New image of women in the 1920s: a female boxer on the front cover of magazine “Die Woche”, 1929.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-woche-232x300.jpg)
Programme on women in ice hockey from 3 December 2000. RTS
Swiss Sports History
![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/swisssportshistory-300x225.jpg)
This text was produced in collaboration with Swiss Sports History, the portal for the history of sports in Switzerland. The portal focuses on education in schools and information for the media, researchers and the general public. Find out more at sportshistory.ch