The WSF is Shedding Light on Girls’ Sports Participation

In recognition of Women’s History Month, the Women’s Sports Foundation has released Keeping Girls in the Game: Factors that Influence Sport Participation, a new, national research report examining the social influences on youth entry, retention and drop out from sports. Made possible through a longstanding partnership between WSF and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation, the report provides a greater understanding of sport participation disparities across youth gender, age, race/ethnicity, family socioeconomic background and region, as well as illuminates the attitudes and influence of parents. It also shines an informative, comparison/contrast light on the sports experience for girls versus boys, and provides recommendations to keep more girls in the game.

Based on a national survey of girls and boys (N=3,041) between the ages of 7-17 and their parents (N=3,041), the report uncovered many thought-provoking findings and offers numerous recommendations, including but not limited to:

Gender disparities: Girls were more likely to have never played (43.1% girls vs. 34.5% boys) and less likely to be currently playing sports (36.4% girls vs 45.6% boys).
Finding new and creative ways to promote opportunities in a wide variety of sports, including non-traditional sport pathways, intramural programs and activity clubs, can help encourage more girls to participate.
Gender stereotypes: Interestingly, a third of parents (32.2%) endorsed the belief that boys are better at sports than girls, regardless of whether their child was currently playing, dropped out, or never played.
Parents can support their daughters’ sports participation in many powerful ways, both emotional (e.g., sharing positive beliefs and attitudes toward sports, attending games, practicing with their daughters) and tangible (e.g., buying equipment, providing transportation.)
Limited exposure to female role models in sports: Two-thirds of all current players (68%) reported having a male coach and/or male assistant coach. Further, parents provided minimal encouragement to their daughters to follow sports figures (only 13% of current girl players’ parents and 11% of dropped out girls).
Encouraging more moms to get involved in their daughters’ teams at the coaching level, and parents to encourage and join their daughters in following collegiate and professional women’s teams and athletes, can have a profound impact on girls’ aspirations in both participation and professional sport careers.
Sports’ influence on academic achievement: There is substantial evidence of the positive impact of sports on academic achievement, yet interestingly, 30% of youth and their parents reported a need to focus more on studying and grades as a primary reason to drop out of sports. And well over half of sport dropouts (55%) and three-quarters of their parents (73%) felt that sports can get in the way of academics.

More funding is needed to enable low-income youth and girls of color to fully participate in sport at rates equal to their other peers. Sports organizations can help address this by reaching out to stakeholders in their local community for fundraising support; show local companies how sponsoring girls’ sports aligns with their commitment to their community.

—
Photo Credit: FabrikaSimf / Shutterstock.com