A study released back in February of 2020 titled 'The Rally Report' by Canadian Women and Sport, found that 62% of Canadian girls do not participate in any form of sport, of those who do play sports, 1 in 3 girls drop out of sport by the age of 16. Compare this to teenaged boys (ages 16-18) only 1 in 10 drop out of sport. On top of this, only 18% of women aged 16-63 stay involved in sport (2020).
So why are girls dropping out of sport?
In November of 2020 I attended the 'Girls and Women in Sport' virtual series, hosted by Fit Women & Girls, and Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba. During this online series different individuals (who are involved in female sports in one way or another) were brought in to discuss different topics all related to why girls drop out of sport and what we can do to change this. There was five sessions all together which took place over the course of a few weeks. The main topics discussed were; 'Keeping Girls in Sport,' 'Coaching the Female Athlete,' 'Careers in Sport,' 'Why girls Participate,' and 'Mental Health.'
What I learned from attending this virtual event was that, the issue behind todays discussion is more dynamic than it may seem. For young girls growing up in small towns, there typically isn many options when compared to living in larger urban areas. For these females many grow up playing on mixed teams with boys because an all girls team just isn't an option. Unfortunately, because of this girls tend to drop out after they begin to hit puberty. So then why is the drop out rate for girls still high in larger cities where there are a variety of female leagues and levels available? The short answer is, there just isn't enough support. A lack of female leagues is only a section of why girls drop out of sport. While attending the 'Girls and Women in Sport' virtual series I learned that the majority of female teams are still coached by men and only 4% of women's sports are covered by sports media.
This is an issue because this creates feelings of uncertainty and discouragement for young girls if there is a lack of female athletes to look up to. As a young girl the only famous female athlete I personally knew was Haley Wickenheiser, for me she was a super hero because she was the only woman who played sports i'd ever seen on TV. In regard to coaching, I played sports for 14 years and not once did I have a female coach. What I learned from the virtual series in session two 'Coaching the Female Athlete' was that since females and males are wired differently it is not affective to coach them the same way. Coaching girls requires different technique as they succeed with greater encouragement and competitive team based drills when compared to boys.
Again, from a lack of opportunity to a lack of professional women's sports coverage to being misunderstood and an absence of knowledge on future opportunities, the issue behind why girls drop out of sport is more dynamic than it may seem. A journal article titled 'Social Stratification, Gender and Sport Participation' backs this up. The article discusses a study done to examine the social space that exists in sport participation between genders and the patterns that exists such as gender stereotyping which result in a lack of female participation. In short, the study found that "the social space of sporting participation is complex and reciprocal" (Reeves, 2012).
Therefore, there are many aspects, linked to each other causing girls to drop out of sport. Organizations such as Canadian Women and Sport and Fit Women & Girls, as well as many others are excellent and only two examples of whats being done to increase female participation in sport and fitness. What we can do as athletes, coaches, teachers and parents is to provide as much knowledge, support and encouragement to our daughters, sisters, players, students (whom ever they may be) on the importance of #SportForLife so that more and more girls stay in sport. Other ways you can contribute towards increasing female participation is by getting involved with some of these organizations or by simply getting involved in your community...
The change begins with us!
References:
Canadian Women and Sport. (2020). Canadian Girls Are Dropping Out of Sport According to National Study. Retrieved May 19, 2021 from https://womenandsport.ca/canadian-girls-dropping-out-of-sport/
Reeves, A. (2012). Social Stratification, Gender and Sport Participation. Sociological Research Online, 17(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.2598
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