Rugby sevens – a short form of the sport of rugby union – was first played in 1883, with the first (men's) internationals taking place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.
However, although the first Women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first 7-a-side internationals were played, when the Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time.
Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship. This reached its zenith with the first Women's Sevens World Cup in 2009, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens will be included in the Olympics from 2016. In 2011/12 the IRB organised three official women's challenges tournaments in Dubai, Hong Kong and London. After the success of these events an annual IRB Women's Sevens World Series was launched from the start of the 2012/13 season.
The following is a list of all women's international tournaments that have been traced since 1997, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with links to result details, where known. If two tournaments are run concurrently the apparently more senior will be listed first.
Some tournaments include both club and national teams, and these are only included where the majority of teams are International. Occasionally what are effectively national teams play unofficially under an assumed name – these games are also noted where this is known.
The summary section looks at each region in turn and attempts to draw some conclusions about the relative strengths of the participants. This is a little flawed due to the absence of some results and information as well as the inclusion of non-international teams to make up the numbers but should give the best guess available.