Women and girls

Participation

To encourage women and girls to become involved in sport and other physical activities, you need to consider the reasons why women and girls participate.

Research shows that few women and girls participate for external reasons such as winning a competition or winning trophies. In contrast internal reasons such as enjoyment, fun and social interaction are more important.

Do more than just advertise

It is important to realise that just advertising "women and girls are welcome" won't increase participation. There are many barriers to overcome when attempting to increase participation. You need to try a combination of the following:

• ask women and girls what they would like
• "soften" the rules of serious sport to make the activity more about having a good time
• not keeping score - just play the game for the game's sake
• arrange special females-only coaching sessions (this is particularly important in mixed sex activities as men/boys tend to dominate new learning environments)
• have experienced women help beginners
• allow a greater range of clothing and uniform choices
• have coaches of new players wear casual clothes rather than more formal sporting clothing
• provide after game /activity social opportunities for participants.

Parents (and coaches) can support and enhance a daughter's sporting activity by:

• encouraging, encouraging, encouraging and encouraging all attempts regardless of the outcome
• going to watch her play at every opportunity
• being aware sport should be fun (remember, winning does not necessarily equate to fun)
• noticing achievement, effort and improvement
• asking "How did you play?" or "What did you do well?" rather than "How did you go?".

Clubs, organisers, teachers and schools can support and encourage women and girls by:

• making sure all women, regardless of skills or experience, get to be an active part of activities and teams. Being "involved" means taking an active, meaningful role in the conduct of the activity. For example, being "on the field" in the game of touch football, playing on the wing and hardly ever receiving the ball, is, for most women and girls, not "being involved"
• alternating the order of presentations, matches and mentions of women's and men's results and events in presentation ceremonies, fixtures and newsletters
• placing dynamic, action photographs of women and girls in central viewing areas
• using women and girls as role models, for example, as presenters when promoting your sport or activity
• having VIPs attend and acknowledge the women and girls involvement in games.

Take the first step

Ask women and girls why they play, what they like and what could be improved to make their experience more enjoyable AND then make sure some (if not all) suggestions are implemented.

Small changes make a difference

Look around your organisation and count the number of photographs of women versus those of men. Also record the location of the photographs and which ones are more easily viewed. You will be surprised at how few, and where, women and girls feature. Change the location of photographs by displaying women and girls more prominently. Ask both women and men if they have noticed anything different.