article:women's participation in sports by sobia saleem

Article
Sobia Saleem – 2K15/ MC/ 84

BS III
Women's Participation in Sports

Across the country, Pakistani women are clearing hurdles to balance personal, professional, social and volunteer commitments. Women play leading roles in work and family life, but fewer and fewer Pakistani women are maintaining lifelong roles as sport participants and leaders.
Women’s power and influence over sport has been pretty minimal until, say, now. In previous centuries, they gave birth to famous sportsmen and Queen Elizabeth I may have somehow nudged Sir Francis Drake into bowls. Other than that, their position was somewhat sidelined.

Efforts such as this acknowledge that when it comes to participation in sport, males and females are not the same, and a different approach is needed. We should not be going about trying to “fix” the female participation problem by simply trying to replicate what works for men. Instead, we need to create new sporting outlets and come up with innovative ways to encourage women to play more sport.
The participation of women and girls in sports challenges the gender stereotypes and discrimination, and can therefore be a vehicle to promote gender equality and empowerment of girls and women. Participation in sports and physical activity can also facilitate good mental health for women of all ages. It can promote psychological well-being through building self-esteem, confidence and social integration in our women. Promotion of women sports will give our women strength to show their hidden abilities in front of the world. It will allow them to stand with the men in race of progress. They will develop leadership qualities just like the other sports men.

Challenges for Female Participation in Supports:

There are a couple of oft-cited reasons for the disparity. Women, particularly those with young families, simply have less free time than men, goes one. But research says different.

Women are more likely to exercise to keep fit and healthy (56 per cent) than men (43 per cent). They just chose to devote their time to fitness classes such as spinning, yoga and boot camps, or individual pursuits such as walking and running, instead of organized team sports.

A long road has been travelled but there is a good distance yet to travel. More promotion is needed. More investment required. More role models. More opportunities to play.

The alternative is to accept that women just aren’t as sporty as men. If this is the mindset, we will never see the gender gap narrow.

Interestingly, “newer” sports such as triathlon have large female numbers. The amazing grassroots phenomenon of parkrun has a 53 per cent female participation rate of all ages, and is in 55 locations throughout Ireland.

The bigger picture needs to be examined if Pakistan is to produce more brilliant female sports stars. It may not be that women don’t want to play sport, but that the opportunities are still not there at all levels, for all ages.