Gender stereotypes see more than a million girls fall out of love with sport
More than a million teenage girls who once thought of themselves as “sporty” lose interest in physical activity after primary school, a new report has estimated.
Charity Women in Sport surveyed more than 4,000 teenagers ahead of International Women’s Day tomorrow and found 43 per cent of girls who once felt they were “sporty” lost interest as they got older – equating to an estimated 1.3 million girls across the UK.
Out of these girls, 68 per cent said a fear of feeling judged prevented them from taking part, while 61 per cent said they lacked confidence and 47 per cent said they were too busy with school work. Girls were much more likely to say they used to be sporty but had fallen out of love with exercise than boys (24 per cent), indicating girls may need more support to engage with sport as they go through puberty.
Some 78 per cent of girls who said they used to be sporty admitted they avoided taking part in sport when on their period – higher than those who had never been sporty (at 69 per cent) and those who were still passionately involved in sport (64 per cent).
Overall, seven in ten girls said they avoided sport when menstruating, citing pain, tiredness, self-consciousness or fearing leaks as a reason for avoiding exercise at this time.
The report also found that the pandemic has affected teenage girls’ worries about their appearance, as well as mental health issues. It found they are less physically active than boys in general and are far less likely to take part in team sports.
And it said: “Worryingly girls lose their love of sport and exercise during teenage years and this presents a significant
psychological barrier throughout life.”
The survey found that for respondents aged between 11 and 16, just 37 per cent of girls enjoyed physical activity against 54 per cent of boys. By age 17-18, just three in ten girls would describe themselves as sporty, versus six in ten boys.
Self-belief and body image
concerns were found to be issues all girls struggled with, but this was especially true for girls who had stopped taking part in sport and physical activity as they grew older. Of previously “sporty” girls, 73 per cent said dislike of others watching them was an obstacle to taking part in exercise.
Women in Sport said it was
“deeply concerned by the number of girls who disengage from sport and exercise post primary school”. It added a further dip was found at 17-18, once school sport was no longer compulsory.
The report showed most girls understood the benefits of being active, and that they wanted to increase their levels
of physical activity, but just under half (47 per cent) said they found it easy to motivate themselves.
Stephanie Hilborne, Women in Sport chief executive, said: “It’s an absolute travesty that teenage girls are being pushed out of sport at such a scale.”
She said that losing sport at this formative stage of their lives equated to a “loss of joy as well as good life-long health”.
She said: “Teenage girls are not voluntarily leaving sport, they are being pushed out as a consequence of deep-rooted gender stereotypes. We must all do more to reverse this trend.”