26/01/2023
Spare shop: why girls play sports less than boys
Physical education classes and parks ignore them, and society imposes stereotypes.
Sports help maintain health, reduce stress, and even improve cognitive abilities. Exercise is good for all ages, but studies show that teenage girls are more likely to avoid it. We understand why it happened and how they are trying to fix it.
Adolescent girls are less likely to play sports than boys
In 2015, the UK studied the level of physical activity of schoolchildren. It turned out that 15% of boys and only 9% of girls aged 13-15 exercised for at least an hour every day. Among other activities, the researchers included outdoor games and light exercise.
Three years later, the charity Women in Sport conducted its own study and got almost the same results: only 8% of girls aged 13-15 actively moved for at least an hour a day. In 2019, a World Health Organization study found that in 142 out of 146 countries, adolescent girls lagged behind boys in terms of physical activity.
The hour of physical activity that the researchers insisted on did not involve professional sports. Ten minutes of dancing, cycling to school, and playing on the school playground after school counted. Yet girls are less active than boys. Leanne Riley, one of the authors of the WHO study, wrote: “In order to increase the level and regularity of physical activity among girls in adolescence, and then in adulthood, it is necessary to create appropriate opportunities for them, taking into account their interests and needs.”
Why do girls exercise less?
Physical education at school rarely takes into account the interests of girls
All schoolchildren inevitably encounter sports in physical education classes. But girls often have to adapt to the standards created for boys. For example, teenagers are primarily taught to play football and volleyball. Among the mandatory standards of push-ups and pull-ups. Of course, girls can also love volleyball and athletics, but if some of the students are interested in other sports, they are simply not taken into account.
The norms of girls and boys create stereotypes. Usually, for students, they simply reduce the number of approaches: for example, instead of 32 push-ups from the floor, girls perform only 20. They do not pass some standards at all and remain watching from the benches as the boys climb the rope and pull themselves up on the horizontal bar. On the one hand, such a division corresponds to the capabilities of the average student. On the other hand, it forms a stereotype that “all girls are weak”.
The school does not expect girls to be particularly successful in strength exercises, but requires flexibility. So, the standard for bending down from a sitting position for girls is stricter than for boys. At the same time, the ability to do push-ups and the ability to sit on a twine depend on training. And dances and choreography, which just develop flexibility and coordination, are rarely practiced at school lessons. The exception is rhythm, but it often remains only in the primary school curriculum.
If there is time left in the lesson after passing the standards and compulsory exercises, students can play sports games. Usually the boys are divided into football or volleyball teams, and the girls sit on the benches. To be part of the game, they often need to convince the boys to accept them on the team. You have to play very well, because an unsuccessful pitch can become a reason for dissatisfaction or ridicule like “what else to expect from a girl”. This is confirmed by statistics: many girls are convinced that it is worth playing sports only if you have special abilities, and not for pleasure.
Complexes influence the activity of girls. In 2021, VTsIOM and the DOVE brand conducted a study of adolescent self-esteem. 94% of girls aged 14–17 dreamed of changing their appearance. Two-thirds remembered how people around made comments about their appearance. Most of the interviewed girls would like to change their weight, belly or waist. In physical education classes in sportswear, such girls can feel very vulnerable. Especially if faced with critical comments from the teacher or classmates during the exercises.
Charitable organizations are trying to overcome gender inequality in amateur sports. For example, Women in Sport has created a special manual for school physical education teachers. The guide advises to let the girls choose an activity they would like to do and add it to the lesson. For example, elements of zumba or aerobics.
The distribution of children into groups is proposed to be changed. For example, to abandon the competition "boys against girls" and form mixed teams according to the abilities of students. At the same time, pay attention not to the competition, but to the observance of the rules and the correct ex*****on of the elements. This can reduce the aggressiveness and schadenfreude that turn girls away. At the same time, Women in Sport offers to talk with girls to motivate them to play sports and overcome stereotypes about appearance.
