The women's 3000-metre speed-skating event was first introduced at the Winter Olympics in 1960. It debuted at the Squaw Valley Games in California, where women competed in Olympic speed-skating events for the first time.
The 1960 programme included four women's distances: 500 metres, 1000 metres, 1500 metres and 3000 metres. The 3000-metre race was held on February 23 at the Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink. Soviet skater Lidiya Skoblikova won the gold medal in an Olympic-record time of 5:14.3.
The event was not a minor variation of an existing men's race: it represented the return of women's speed skating to the official Olympic programme after women had been excluded from the 1948 Games. The 3000 metres remained an Olympic staple, while the women's 5000 metres arrived much later, making its Olympic debut in 1988.