Abstract: This paper takes women's participation of "Saer'he" as a case study to examine the changes of women's role in the participation of traditional ethnic sports. It's found that women's role has changed from "absence" to "presence" in their participation of "Saer'he", which is manifested in three aspects: number of participants, participation behavior, and diverse role-playing. But the change of women's role is not accomplished at one stroke. It in fact has experienced the obstacles from society, cultural systems, and ideologies. In order to gain the role of "presence", women engaged in game and negotiation of gender rights, gender division of labor, and gender culture under gender relations, with motivation and resistance existing at the same time.

Key words: participation of traditional ethnic sports, "Saer'he", change of women's role, obstacles, gender game