At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, female athletes will finally achieve parity when it comes to participation. They will be the first in history to have an equal number of male and female athletes, reflecting the progress made in this area in recent decades.

From its humble beginnings as a celebration for men only, the modern Olympic Games have gradually evolved with society to include women fully in various fields, including sport.

Once seen as a "celebration of male virtue", in the late 19th century Baron Pierre de Coubertin, faithful to the customs of the time when women were excluded, conceived it as a celebration of chivalrous athleticism "with female applause as its reward".

At the second Games, held in France in Paris in 1924, only four per cent of competitors were women, and they were restricted to sports deemed suitable for them, such as swimming, tennis and croquet.

Marie Sallois, the IOC's Director of Gender Equality, highlights this achievement as a reflection of global social progress, although she acknowledges that much remains to be done to achieve true equality in elite sport.

"For the first time in Olympic history, we will have gender parity on the field," Sallois told journalists on International Women's Day in March, speaking about the Paris 2024 Games.

This milestone is the result of incremental progress in women's participation at each Games, reflecting broader social trends in most parts of the world that have gradually opened up previously male-only domains, from boardrooms to voting booths.

"It took a long time to reach 44 per cent (women) in London in 2012, the first edition where women could participate in all sports, and then 48 per cent in Tokyo (in 2021)," Sallois added.

The barriers for women were significant more than a century ago, when they had to compete in rival "Women's Olympics" in the 1920s, before the event was absorbed into what is now the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

They were allowed to compete in athletics for the first time in Amsterdam in 1928, although they were excluded from the 800 metres after spectators, mainly men, were appalled by the sight of exhausted runners.

Forty years later, in 1968, women were still banned from competing in all races over 200 metres, and even in 1976 women's events made up only a quarter of the Olympic programme.

They were long considered incapable of meeting the physical demands of the marathon. It was not until the 1984 Games in Los Angeles that they were allowed to compete for the first time.

"We have come a long way in a relatively short space of time," said Sebastian Coe, head of world athletics, recently in Paris.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will not only have as many women as men, but will also expect to give greater prominence to women's events. The historic position of the men's marathon as the event that precedes the closing ceremony will be taken over by the women's marathon.

"We have made a significant effort to organise the women's events and ensure that they are visible, for example on weekends when there are more spectators or in prime time," added Sallois.

For the Opening Ceremony, the IOC has also proposed that each national delegation nominate two flag bearers, one male and one female.

While significant improvements have been made, the final battle for full gender equality is not yet won. At the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, only 13 per cent of coaches were women. Sports administration remains overwhelmingly male, including national Olympic delegations and sports federations.

The IOC has never had a female president and its membership, made up of 106 delegates who vote on key decisions, remains 59 per cent male.

However, the organisation has ensured gender parity in its internal commissions and the number of female members has increased significantly in recent years. "The IOC must be a role model and set an example," Sallois concluded.