Abstract
Background: The rate of participation in community-based sport by boys and men has been double that of girls and women. Contributing to this is the fact that some sports have been traditionally male-only or at least very male-dominated.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in participation in sport by sex and age across 10 major sports in Australia over a 5-year period. In conjunction with the analysis of participation trends, the gender strategies that were developed and implemented during this time are reviewed.Methods: This study encompassed all sport participants registered with one of 10 State Sporting Associations in Victoria, Australia in 2015 and in 2019. Participation rates by region, age and sex were calculated. State sport and health policies relating to female participation in sport were reviewed.Results: There were 749,037 registrations in 2015 and 868,266 in 2019. A comparison between 2015 and 2019 shows increases in participation for women and girls across all age groups (4–84 years), and highest increases for those aged 4 (6.6%) and 5–9 (4.7%). For boys there was a considerable decrease in participation for those aged 5–9 years (−3.8%).Discussion: This study provides evidence that whilst participation in sport is still dominated by males, the gap might be gradually closing and this is in line with recent strategies and investments into sport and wider cultural developments in society. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Highlights
Gender1 Inequality and Hegemonic Masculinity in SportWomen and girls have traditionally been, and continue to be underrepresented as both sport participants (Borgers et al, 2018; Strandbu et al, 2019; Shull et al, 2020) and in non-playing rolesSport Policy and Participation Trends such as coaching, officiating, senior administrators and board members (Burton, 2015)
It would seem that the government Change our Game initiatives have provided the strong policy frameworks for example board quotas, governance programs and funding and the VicHealth This Girl Can campaign aimed at inspiring women and girls to get active are an example of effective parallel gender strategies for women and girls in sport
An important observation from our findings is that women and girls in particular are starting to play male-dominated sports
Summary
Gender Inequality and Hegemonic Masculinity in SportWomen and girls have traditionally been, and continue to be underrepresented as both sport participants (Borgers et al, 2018; Strandbu et al, 2019; Shull et al, 2020) and in non-playing rolesSport Policy and Participation Trends such as coaching, officiating, senior administrators and board members (Burton, 2015). Hegemonic masculinity describes practises that legitimise men’s dominant position in society, and this has traditionally played a central role in sport (English, 2017). This is partly due to the excessive focus on winning in sport (English, 2017). Women participate less, and their sports are less valued in all regards (Spaaij et al, 2015) This provides the main premise as to why we track some of the participation trends in this paper and how these may relate to new strategies to increase participation by women and girls. Contributing to this is the fact that some sports have been traditionally male-only or at least very male-dominated
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