Help me to change the world

I was not a sporty girl, despite coming from a sporty family.  I was surrounded by sport – both my parents were active, I went to watch my brother play rugby and sport was always on the TV.  I did enjoy watching sport but during my formative years, I didn’t play anything preferring, instead, a good book and nurturing my aspirations of being a sports’ journalist. You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all this but there is a point; a very big one.

Fast forward thirty years and I’m now a mother of two sporty boys.  I spend my time running around after their sporting commitments and yes, sport is on the television a lot.  Of course, to me, this seems normal and I love it!  To see them develop through playing football, rugby, cricket, table tennis, golf etc is fascinating.

But then, one evening when I was reading a sporty book to my son at bedtime, it dawned on me how girls don’t have the same access to sport as boys, even down to inspirational books of female sports stars and sporty magazines to read.

I did my research and not only realised that I was right but that the impact this lack of access at all levels was having on our female sporting stars of the future and girls that ‘just wanna have fun’ playing sport is really negative.  And that’s globally, not just in the UK. 

Here are just a few of the stats:

Girls have 1.3m fewer opportunities to access sport than boys – fewer clubs, fewer coaches, clubs being held at tricky times of the day compared to clubs for boys. (Women’s Sports Foundation)

Photo credit Jeff Lin via Unsplash

In the UK, only 8% of girls aged 11-18 meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 minutes of physical activity a day compared to 16% of boys. (Youth Sport Trust)

There is a 50% - yes 50%! - drop off rate for girls being active when they hit puberty.  There are many reasons for this but by breaking the habit of being active, the girls are missing out on the physical and mental well-being benefits, not only in adolescence but into adulthood too.

Female sports stars are woefully under-represented in the media – it’s improving but there certainly isn’t parity with the men.

And so, the spark was lit and I had an idea.  My friend Jo Wimble, Guilty Mother blogger (as passionate as me about this subject) and I have set up We are Girls in Sport, a global movement with several aims:

·        ‘If you can’t see it, you can’t be it,’ is true.  We want girls to have access to female sporting role models, both celebrity and grass roots.  This could be on our website, in the media, in books, on TV – women in sport should have equal share of the back pages with the men.

·        We want to encourage girls to try sport, full stop but also, if they don’t like one sport, to try another until they do.  And by sport we mean physical activity so dance is included, jogging, cheer leading, even just going for a brisk walk.  Anything that gets them moving.  

·        We want girls to realise the benefits that they will gain from sport (physical, mental and even financial  - 96% of female CEOs interviewed by consultancy EY had been active participants in sport in their youth) and to continue through the trying teenage years. 

·        To educate both men and women, mums and dads, carers and grandparents, teachers and coaches on why we should encourage girls to pursue an active lifestyle.

Photo credit John Arano via Unsplash

The website for We are Girls in Sport is under development but we are live on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and making some great connections!

Why am I telling you all this?  Well I think it’s important to raise the subject and make you aware of the gender gap in sport but on a practical level, you might see me sharing more posts about sport, of me meeting sports’ girls and women and I wanted to make it clear why.

You might also be wondering why I care about girls in sport when I’m no longer a girl and I have two sons.  Part of me cares because I hark back to my childhood and I know I would have benefitted from being more active – why I didn’t jump on the sporty bandwagon that was rampant in my family is a bigger question for here but I know I don’t want other girls to make the same mistake.  Also, as cheesy as it sounds, I want to make a difference: I want the girls of today and tomorrow to have more chances to involve themselves in sport and to reap the subsequent benefits.

If you are interested in any of this or think you can help in some way (introductions, mentoring, advice) please do follow We are Girls in Sport and drop Jo and me an email caroline@wearegirlsinsport.com. 

And in the meantime, make sure the girls in your family do jump on the sports’ bandwagon! Give them encouragement and the vote of confidence that they might just need.