There is only one place to be on Friday evening. At 17.45 BST, the broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics will begin. More than 10,000 of the world's supreme athletes will float down the SeineFrance's third-longest river, extending 485 miles from Dijon to the English Channel. It is also a type of fishing net. in 94 boats. It promises to be a spectacle that would stun even the Sun King.¹

It will be the first opening ceremony to be held outside a stadium. Paris 2024 can boast a string of firsts. The venues are mostly refurbished rather than newly built. Events will take place in the city's historic core. A new sport has been added to the line-up: breakdancing.

But the biggest first of all might be the most surprising. This is the only Olympics to feature an equal number of men and women competing. There will be 5,250 of each.

This would have horrified Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. He said: "I do not approve of women in public competitions."² The last Paris Olympics, in 1924, included just 135 women and 2,954 men.

Coubertin's views reflect a long history of patriarchyA system of society where men hold power and women are excluded. . For centuries, numerous societies gave more rights to men than to women. In mediaeval Europe men could rule countries, fight wars, write books, trade goods and own property. Women could do housework or peasantA historical term often used to describe poorer people who worked in farming. labour.

Weddings transferred women's possessions to men. In Britain it took until 1870 for married women to be allowed to legally own property or money.

Change has been hard won. DemocraciesCountries which have a system of government based on the idea of rule by the people. gave men the vote before women. In Britain, women called suffragettesWomen's suffrage is the right for women to vote in local and national elections. The suffragettes fought for this right.  campaigned to gain the vote. Several were sent to prison for their activity.³ It took until 1918 for some women to be allowed to vote, and 1928 for them to have the same voting rights as men.⁴

Gender equality has made steady progress since. There are very few jobs unavailable to women.⁵ Women have led governments, run corporations and directed films.⁶

Women's sport is gaining ground. Witness the huge support for England's Lionesses at the Euro 2022, or the superstardom of tennis players like Serena and Venus Williams. Paris 2024, writes Moira Forbes in Forbes, "represents both an acknowledgment of progress and a benchmark for future advancements".

Yet some insist that the full picture is rather more complex. All countries have a gender pay gap. The average American woman, for example, earns 83% of an average American man's salary.

The difference is massive in professional sport. The world's top earning women footballer, Alex Morgan, has a £620,000 annual salary. Cristiano Ronaldo nets around £173m. 

There are still parts of the world where women's rights remain dreadful. Take voting. Women officially have the vote in every democracy bar one.⁷ But in practice they are often restricted.

In AfghanistanA mountainous Asian country, slightly larger than France, whose neighbours include Pakistan, Iran and China. women have to ask permission to leave the house. In UgandaA landlocked country in East Africa with a population of 47 million. women who voted in the 2016 elections were subject to violence. In ZanzibarA group of islands off the coast of Tanzania. 50 women were divorced by their husbands for voting in 2015. Paris 2024 cannot stop these outrages.

Is this a turning point for gender equality? 

Yes: The Olympics will be a symbolic turning point. But symbols are hugely important. Just seeing women take part in the same events as men might inspire the athletes and suffragettes of the future.

No: In much of the world women face restricted rights, limited roles, unequal pay and threats of violence. The Olympics is not a reflection of the world but a fantasy of what nations want to project.

Or... We will not be able to tell. True turning points are often only visible in retrospect, once the fanfare has died down and the effects have taken hold. It is a question to answer in 50 years.

FOR YOUR SUMMER READING CHALLENGE CLUE GO TO STEP SIX IN THE SIX STEPS TO DISCOVERY BELOW.