The women's field hockey tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics was the first edition of the field hockey event for women at the Summer Olympic Games.

Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union won the silver and bronze respectively, finishing in second and third place in the pool.

The FIH and IFWHA agreed that qualification for the Olympics would be decided by a joint FIH–IFWHA committee based on the results over the previous two years, including the 1978 (FIH) and 1979 (IFWHA) women's world championships.

[3] Five teams qualified to join the host Soviet team: the Netherlands, West Germany, the United States, New Zealand, and Great Britain[4] (taking the place of Wales, England, and Scotland, who had finished 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively in the 1979 tournament[5]).

The United States and West Germany boycotted completely, and while New Zealand, Great Britain and the Netherlands competed in other sports, their hockey governing bodies pulled out.