How do we encourage women and girls to take up sport?

A very detailed report commissioned by the media company Sky Sports and published recently by the research and consultancy company, Public First, has described the many benefits for girls in taking up a sport but has also identified the many obstacles that prevent them from doing so.

In a very thorough investigation, the authors of the report, which is entitled ‘GAME CHANGING: HOW SPORT GIVES EVERY GIRL A BETTER CHANCE’, conducted a national poll of 2,010 adults and a group of 600 11-18 year olds, and interviewed 50 girls, women and parents across four focus groups to gather data. They then interviewed 50 women aged 18-25 and concluded their research by asking Sky Sports broadcasters, athletes (past and present), sports women and teachers for their opinions.

A report has described the many benefits for girls in taking up a sport but has also identified the many obstacles that prevent them from doing so.

The results were quite startling, especially if one considers how apparently influential successes of the England women’s national football team and more recently, the England women’s rugby team have been in attracting girls and women to take up football and rugby.

The researchers found that when women and girls take part in any physical activity, they are more likely to exercise alone or in gyms. This compares with men and boys who are more likely to take part in competitive team-based activities, with 74% of 11-18 year old boys playing some kind of team sports compared to 49% of girls.

 This gap in participation of sport matters because it has been shown that taking part in team and competitive sports helps to develop leadership and teamwork skills and individual resilience and self-esteem. If girls miss out when they are young, it could detrimentally affect their long-term future. For instance, it was found that if women had taken part in a sport when they were young, they were 50% more likely to be in a senior professional role as an adult.

What is preventing girls from participating in sport?

What is preventing girls from participating in sport? The report highlighted many barriers, some of which unfortunately might be expected, such as misogynistic attitudes, but others, such as the design and comfort of sports kit, might not be obvious.

The research found that sexist abuse drives girls out of sport. Of the sample 33% of the 11-18 year old girls had experienced sexist comments while playing sport, and this rose to 42% for the 15-18 year old girls. A quarter of the girls said that they had experienced inappropriate remarks about their appearance and 32% of the girls interviewed had experienced teasing or bullying from boys while taking part in sporting activities. Girls will only pick up a ball, step onto a pitch or join a sports team if they feel welcome, however, hostility and misogynistic attitudes persist and act as a barrier to participation.

For girls there is an unequal access to forming a sports team in schools compared with boys; 35% of the 11-18 year old girls said that boys at their educational establishments get access to a wider range of sports team activities than they do, and priority over girls when booking pitches and facilities. The girls gave many examples where girls’ teams had been made to play on inferior pitches, at inconvenient time slots, with inadequate equipment compared with their male counterparts.

Facilities at sporting venues and schools were also described as inappropriate or inadequate for girls with 47% of the 11-18 year old girls saying they did not feel comfortable when getting changed because of the lack of privacy; this compared with 22% of the boys. Sport and PE kits were also described as uncomfortable by the girls as they are designed primarily to fit a male body and do not fit girls properly.

All the findings and statistics indicated a concerning situation for the lack of participation of girls and women in sport

All the findings and statistics indicated a concerning situation for the lack of participation of girls and women in sport. What remedies can be put in place to reduce if not eliminate these barriers?

 Sport’s women role models can encourage girls into sport by describing how they succeeded in theirs; 55% of the 11-18 year old girls in the study agreed that watching professional athletes play inspires them to participate in sport. Judy Murray, a tennis coach and the mother of Andy and Jamie, said that from her own experience coaching girls: “it’s fun, friends and fitness that gets girls into tennis. There are far more likely to stay in the sport if they form a friendship group and enjoy playing recreationally or competitively”. While Nikki Doucet, the CEO of the Women’s Super League said, “Girls playing sport must be normalised” and “. . . one of the biggest barriers preventing more girls from playing football is judgement”

Schools and colleges could take heed of these findings and adjust their sports curriculum and sports provision to make the inclusion of girls in sports normal and not the exception. Secondary educational establishments play a critical role in instilling a love of sport and to further this it was proposed that a minimum of two hours a week should be devoted to physical education for all pupils up to the age of 16.

To close the gender gap in sports participation, action must be taken at every stage of a girl’s young life

The CEO of the Sky Group, Dana Strong, said that Sky wants to “bring policy makers and the sports industry together to address these barriers with positive solutions” and “Closing the participation gap will improve girls’ physical and mental wellbeing, increase their resilience and help them to become the leaders of the future.” To that end Sky is requesting tax relief on the production cost of covering women’s sport as a contribution from the government to enable broadcasters to invest more in its output. Sky Sport has also announced a new partnership with ‘Goals 4 Girls’ in partnership with Alessia Russo to establish a new girls’ football tournament in the UK.

To close the gender gap in sports participation, action must be taken at every stage of a girl’s young life to ensure equal access to sporting facilities and opportunities to play sport and to build a better national culture in which girls can feel included and inspired to take up sport.