“Sport has the power to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

Sport improves physical health. Sport improves mental health. Sport improves self-esteem. However, by the age of just 14 there is already a gap between the number of girls and boys playing sport with girls two times more likely to drop out of sport than boys. This gender play gap is replicated at every life stage with 63% of men (aged 16+) active in sport compared to 58% of women (aged 16+). Sport has such undeniable benefits, yet this stark difference between men’s and women’s participation in sport forces us to question why is this the case and what can be done. 

Sport has always been a massive part of my life. I spent hours when I was younger playing cricket in the garden, hockey at school and running at the weekend. It wasn’t just me; it was my brother, sister and parents.  As I grew older and schoolwork became more stressful, sport has become my release and my means of staying stress-free during GSCEs, A-Levels and university. However, a comment by a teammate recently that her legs had become “too muscly” over summer and she thought they were “massive” really struck me. It highlighted just one of the many obstacles’ women must overcome to participate in sport. 

There is an overwhelming societal pressure to look a certain way for both men and women. If a woman is muscly, she is perceived to be too masculine and so unattractive. However, to be toned is to be feminine and sexy. How is it that being muscly is frowned upon if you are a woman? Men spend hours in the gym to achieve that look but for a woman it is seen as something to be embarrassed about. It is this fear of how we look that is proving to be a major obstacle in keeping girls and women from participating in sport. Our social media feeds are filled with images of tanned, toned women.  Women are being pressured into feeling they must fit this one body shape which is largely unattainable for the majority.  When they don’t look like this it becomes another reason to give up any physical activity. 

If we are to overcome this gender play gap, we need women in sport to be normalised. We need to show that it doesn’t matter what size or shape you are. There is no ‘normal’ body but a massive spectrum and there is a sport for everyone at any level. Worrying then about being too muscly or not being toned enough or anything else becomes irrelevant. It becomes about you doing what you love with people who feel a similar way. 

Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, that launched in 2015, is a definite start. It seeks to challenge the conventional idea of what exercise looks like and what women must look like to participate. However, there is so much more that can be done. Women’s sport receives such little TV coverage compared to men’s sport. Significant progress has been made with massive TV audiences recorded for the Women’s Football World Cup, the Cricket World Cup and the Netball World Cup. These are events though that occur every four years. It is crucial that in the seasons between these major events women’s sports receive more regular TV coverage. It is through watching women play at the top of their respective sports that it becomes clear there is room for every shape and size to take part in sport. Body image fears may represent just one barrier but tackling it, is a major step forward in boosting women’s participation in sport. 

Nelson Mandela’s quote highlights sport has the ability to make real change so, it is vital that we harness its power and get as many girls and women participating by whatever means possible.