What are the barriers preventing women from participating in sport?

Welcome to the stop on barriers for women in sport.

Now that the need for change has been established, we will work together to find more affordable opportunities for women to enter the sports world.

In this section, we will focus on the following learning objectives to:

  • Understand the multi-faceted barriers hindering women's participation and success in sports.
  • Explore the socio-cultural, economic, practical, and knowledge-related challenges faced by women in the sports domain.

The barriers we know

Sport and competitive sport, in particular, is situated as a gendered space (Sisjord et al., 2021). It allows for the reproduction, exhibition, and construction of traditional notions of gender norms (Schaeperkoetter, 2017).

Throughout history, women have faced various obstacles in the field of sport, encompassing socio-cultural, economic, practical, and knowledge-related barriers. Although the situation has improved in many places, there are still challenges that affect women's participation and recognition in sports. The most common barriers include unequal opportunities, funding gaps, gender stereotypes, differences in media coverage, and the pay and rewards gap, among others.

A fascinating global research that ran from June – September 2023 and was published on 27 Feb 2024 by ASICS Corporation has found a disparity between what women and men believe to be women's top barriers to exercise 🤔

Here are the universal barriers that women listed...

👉 Too many other commitments (76%)

💸 The cost of gym membership (59%)

❌ Lack of safe spaces and environments (43%)

But when men were asked what they thought the barriers for women were, they answered...

😥 Body insecurities (58%)

⏰ not enough time (34%)

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Are you creating barriers in your organisation?

It is one thing to get a sense of the most common barriers faced by women in sports and clearly a good step in addressing the GAP. Yet what matters is also to audit the practices in your own organisation in light of the generic barriers presented above.

Here is a concrete list of questions you should ask to scan your organisation’s environment and identify troublemaking barriers. It would even be more powerful to make this light audit together with other members of your organisation.

  1. Review your recent communication aimed at attracting more members. Have you unintentionally reinforced negative gender stereotypes to women and girls participating in sports? Have you in any way (use of language, choice of visuals) reinforce stereotypes and influences public perceptions of women in sports?
  2. How often do you put the spotlight on women and girls’ role models from your own organisation?
    • How can you help them tell a different story about your organisation and inspire the next generation?
  3. Are you providing safe facilities and equipment for all girls and women in your organisation?
    • When was the last time you asked your members what makes them feel safe/unsafe?
  4. Do you have gender equality and safeguarding policies for girls and women in all their diversity?
    • If no, how hard and how long would it be to take the first step creating the first one?
  5. Are you actively monitoring gender diversity? Do you have an anti-harassment or gender-based violence police/protocol in your sports organisation
  6. Have you included disciplinary measures and procedures regarding gender-based violence/abuse/harassment in codes of ethics and established support services for those affected?
  7. Does your member know where and whom to report in case of a situation of harassment or violence?
    • Can you appoint coordinators for gender equality?
  8. How are decisions being taken in your organisation?
    • Do women have a say?
      • Are they represented on the board?
      • Are there a lot of unwritten decision making rules that are/might be unknown to newcomers?
      • Are decisions taken during board meetings or are most of them being shaped during informal time?

RESOURCES to go the extra mile

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