Dress, Social Space and Gender Relations in the Perception of Female Hikers and Mountaineers Between the 1830s and 1920s

Hiking and mountaineering steadily gained popularity among both men and women in the 19th century. The rise of professional mountaineering coincided with the development of tourism, and the mountains emerged as a space where social relations were renegotiated. Both men and women took instilled etiquette, convictions, and social habits with them into the mountains. The mountains influenced clothing through their environmental characteristics, allowing female mountaineers to wear more rugged clothing than usual. Professional female mountaineers were expected to wear clothing suitable for the challenging conditions, yet the mountains represented a place for human interactions, and they could not disregard the presence of men. During 1830s–1920s, many essential shifts and debates occurred concerning women’s social position, physical activity levels, health, and sports clothing. Through those historical changes, this article aims to reflect on how the space of the mountains gave women the possibility to free themselves from social and mental restrictions related to their dress and femininity. This article seeks to answer questions about the way female mountaineers represented themselves and negotiated their femininity through their outfits in the social space of the mountains.