Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s, when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.

The most prestigious titles in female professional bodybuilding include the Ms. Olympia, Ms. Rising Phoenix and Masters Olympia.

Female bodybuilding originally developed as an outgrowth of not only the late nineteenth-century European vaudeville and circus strongwomen acts, Bernarr Macfadden's turn of the century women's physique competitions, and the weightlifting of Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, but also as an outgrowth of the men's bodybuilding. The contest formats of men's events during the 1950s to the mid-1970s had often been supplemented with either a women's beauty contest or bikini show. These shows "had little to do with women's bodybuilding as we know it today, but they did serve as beginning or, perhaps more properly, as a doormat for the development of future bodybuilding shows." Physique contests for women date back to at least the 1960s with contests like Miss Physique, Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A., W.B.B.G. and Miss Americana, I.F.B.B. Maria Elena Alberici, as listed in the Almanac of Women's Bodybuilding, won two national titles in one year: Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A. in 1972, promoted by Dan Lurie and Miss Americana in 1972, promoted by Joe Weider. Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a judge at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York when Maria Elena Alberici (aka) Maria Lauren won Miss Americana. It was not until the late 1970s, after the advent of the feminist movement and female powerlifting events that women were seen as capable of competing in their own bodybuilding competitions.

Dan Lurie and Kellie Everts – the Beginning (From Dan Lurie’s Book “Heart of Steel” Dan Lurie with Dave Robson, Author House 2009 – Page 313) Dan Lurie wrote the following quote: Kellie Everts

"A young lady with a great physique, Kellie was as motivated to compete as any male bodybuilder I had worked with. I would promote her to the world and in doing this become the first publisher to profile a female bodybuilder. In 1974, I received a call from Esquire magazine photographer Jean-Paul Goude, asking me who I would recommend as a subject for an ‘Amazonian’ spread he was planning. I instantly told him, “Kellie Everts is your lady.” In my mind she was the only female bodybuilder around at the time. In fact she was the first real female bodybuilder ever, a fact not lost on me when I put her in my December 1974 MTI. That was the very first article any muscle magazine had done on a female bodybuilding up until then."

In 1974, Lurie had received an auspicious call from Esquire magazine photographer Jean-Paul Goude, asking him for who he would recommend as a subject for an ‘Amazonian’ spread he was planning. Lurie quickly told him, “Kellie Everts is your lady.” She appeared to be the only female bodybuilder at the time, perhaps the first real female bodybuilder ever. To quote Lurie:

"To my mind, one thing is for sure: she was the first female to break through to make women’s bodybuilding widely known to mainstream audiences."

Per Lurie, Kellie Everts appeared in July 1975 Esquire Magazine, “Muscle and Grit, Religion and Tit, That’s what Kellie Everts is Made of," featuring a woman flexing muscles and lifting weights just like the men did. It clearly created a sensation. Next, Kellie Everts appeared in the May 1977 issue of Playboy, hoisting a barbell in the air with her bikini flying off – Playboy had said women need not fear lifting weights would turn their muscles into “magic mountains,” and “To the barbells, girls!” Just six months after this, Henry McGhee presented his female bodybuilding contest which was designed to be like the men’s (Canton, Ohio, YMCA Nov. 1977)