House, 2006. Essays by twenty-six contributors ad-
dress the choices and contributions of mothers
from both sides of the “mommy wars.”
Norma C. NoonanSee also African Americans; Albright, Madeleine;
Asian Americans; Employment in the United States;
Reno, Janet; Winfrey, Oprah; Women in the mili-
tary; Women’s rights; Year of the Woman.
Women’s National Basketball
Association (WNBA)
Identification Professional U.S. women’s
basketball league
Date Established in 1996; league play began in
1997
Although it was not the first professional women’s basket-
ball league in the United States, the WNBA was the first
such league to be formally backed by the men’s National
Basketball Association (NBA) and the first to receive signif-
icant, ongoing television and news coverage.
In April, 1996, the National Basketball Association
announced the formation of a new Women’s Na-
tional Basketball Association, which would initially
consist of eight teams in two conferences, playing
in cities with existing NBA “partner” teams. The
new league hoped to capitalize on the U.S. women’s
basketball team’s undefeated gold medal run dur-
ing the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Geor-
gia. Several of the star Olympians, including Sheryl
Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo, signed on to the WNBA
immediately, and the league’s first president, Val
Ackerman, was named. The regular season ran from
June to August, and in September, 1997, the Hous-
ton Comets won the first of what would become four
consecutive WNBA championships. Shortly thereaf-
ter, WNBA officials announced that four new teams
would be added for the 1998 season, bringing the
league total to twelve teams.
The WNBA was not the only women’s profes-
sional basketball league in the late 1990’s. The rival
American Basketball League (ABL) was also formed
in 1996 and had attracted several of the sport’s most
talented women players in part because of its higher
salaries. Ultimately, however, the ABL could not
compete with the WNBA in the limited market for
professional women’s sports, and it folded in 1998,
at which time many of its players moved over to the
WNBA.
By the end of the 1990’s, the WNBA had doubled
in size, adding two teams in 1998 and another two
in 1999. Another milestone was the institution of a
collective-bargaining agreement, or players’ union,
at the start of the 1999 season; this was the first such
agreement for any American professional women’s
sport. The league was not profitable, however, and
could not have survived without the financial and
marketing support of the men’s league, including
an official logo that mirrors that used by the NBA.
Impact Although the WNBA has struggled finan-
cially and its players do not receive salaries or lucra-
tive product endorsements equivalent to those of
professional male athletes, it cannot be denied that
the WNBA has significantly increased the visibility of
professional women’s sports. Its players have be-
come role models for many American girls, and the
league has helped to increase the popularity of bas-
ketball as a high school and college sport for female
athletes. In addition, in 2006, the WNBA became the
first professional women’s team sport league to exist
for an entire decade.
Further Reading
Ponti, James.WNBA: Stars of Women’s Basketball. New
York: Pocket Books, 1999.
Terzieff, Juliette.Women of the Court: Inside the WNBA.
New York: Alyson, 2008.
Amy SissonSee also Basketball; Olympic Games of 1996;
Sports. Women’s rights
Definition The movement to attain equal rights
for women in Canada and the United States
The rights gained by women during the 1990’s resulted in
important changes in the lives of individual women and in
the structure and function of the social order in Canada
and the United States.
The issue of women’s rights addresses the position
and treatment of women in all aspects of life. By the
end of the nineteenth century, women in both Can-
ada and the United States were actively seeking a
voice in the political life of their respective coun-928 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) The Nineties in America