How to support girls in sports
Challenging stereotypes and providing early opportunities can encourage girls to participate in sports
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My daughter was recently invited on a day trip organised to encourage girls to participate in sports. She and the other girls in the group had the opportunity to meet and talk with professional athletes, and to compete in races against other girls. Now that they’re back at school, the hope is that they will motivate and encourage others to take part in sports during the rest of the year.
There’s a good reason for this initiative. Girls as young as seven are less active than boys, and the difference widens into the teenage years. Girls are more likely than boys to say they feel self-conscious about their appearance. They may be wary of being judged, or feel their body is on display, making them reluctant to participate in sports. Girls may also feel social pressure to act in stereotypically feminine ways – which often means avoiding athletic activities.
“Girls as young as seven are less active than boys, and the difference widens into the teenage years.”
Some people believe that girls are athletically inferior to boys, and girls are teased more than boys when taking part in sports. Three-quarters of adolescent girls in one study had heard negative comments about girls in sports from people in their lives, including friends, family, teachers, and coaches.
Of more than 2000 girls surveyed by the charity Women in Sport, 43% reported that they had been active in sports in primary school, but that this was no longer the case in secondary school; this was true of just 24% of boys. Girls also reported feeling more supported by their mums than their dads.
Women In Sport suggests five ways that parents, schools, and coaches can help increase girls’ participation in sports:
- Set high expectations for success in sports.
- Build skills early to minimise the gap between girls and boys.
- Challenge stereotypes about girls in sports.
- Provide more opportunities for girls to take part in sports.
- Encourage the right attitudes in boys.
Parents can support girls in sports
In a survey of over 3000 seven- to seventeen-year-olds and their parents in the US, girls whose parents encouraged them and helped them find opportunities to participate were more likely to persist in sports. Parental support was less important for boys. Parents can give their daughters a sense of competence and belonging by attending their events and practising with them. It also appears that gender stereotypes and a lack of female coaches have an adverse effect on participation. By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, coaching staff can help keep girls engaged.
These things are all the more important given that 32% of the parents surveyed believed that boys are better at sports than girls. Women In Sport found that just 23% of surveyed parents in the UK would prefer for their daughters to take part in a team sport such as football or rugby rather than an individual sport like dance or gymnastics. For parents of boys, this figure was 50%. This means that more girls than boys are missing out on the benefits of team sports, such as improved behaviour, academic performance, and mental health. One study found that among individuals who had gone through adverse childhood experiences, those who took part in team sports as adolescents had better mental health in adulthood.
“Among individuals who had gone through adverse childhood experiences, those who took part in team sports as adolescents had better mental health in adulthood.”
Philip Veliz from the University of Michigan School of Nursing and co-author of the US report, explains just how important that support is: “Parents really need to encourage girls, they’re just as strong, they’re just as fast, but men are more invested in boys’ sports. Equally important are strong female role models, so girls have someone they can relate to at a higher level of proficiency,” says Veliz. “When girls see mothers or other women coaching their teams, it has a snowball effect, and girls see that their participation is valued and recognised.”
Changes in the community help engage girls in sports
In Australia, the number of women and girls participating in club sports rose between 2015 and 2019. This was thanks to government strategies to empower local communities, an increase of women in sports leadership positions, and quotas for women on boards and committees in sports organisations. Also helpful were basic changes in infrastructure, such as adding changing rooms for women in clubs.
“A lot of our Australian football clubs or cricket clubs didn’t even have changing rooms for women and girls, or as many opportunities for girls to play sports,” says Rochelle Eime from Federation University in Australia. She is passionate about bridging the existing gaps so that everyone can benefit from access to sport. “Learning to be part of a team, striving to achieve, learning to lose and to win, listening and committing to something and training hard – these are all fantastic, lifelong skills that you don’t acquire in the classroom,” adds Eime. “It’s good for our physical, mental, social health and wellbeing. Those lifelong skills are really important for our children and youth.”
And as for my own daughter, she now loves to wear her “girls active” t-shirt to school, and her new confidence in her ability is already making itself felt. Just this week she took part in an athletics competition where her school came first against 14 other schools. She came home wearing her medal proudly.
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