Each year 33% of all men participate in some form of sporting activity, where as only 10% of women do. As women make up over 50% of the British population this points out some form of discrimination.
Women’s role in society is seen as needing to conform to a set an image, referred to as ‘femininity’, and consequently the amount of and type of sport they play must adhere to this trait guide. There have been myths about women and sport and although, thankfully, these have now been largely displaced, many people still hold some faith in them. Other problems concern time – women, due t the demands of work and family, tend to have much less time for leisure than men, and even when they do they are often physically exhausted to take part.
In the Olympic games this is reflected as there is only a few well known women sports stars compared to the many well-known male sport stars. Women sport stars are Paula Radcliffe, Tanny Grey Thompson and Denise Lewis. Male sport stars are Steve Redgrave, Jonathon Edwards and Steve Backley.
In modern day there is less people taking part of sport this is because there is alternative such as television and computer for people to do in there leisure time and diet of fast food and processed food has to an increase in the number of people who is obese. As there is less women taking part in sport than men women have become a target group for Sport England which is an organisation to encourage participation in sport. The sport for all campaign, originally set up in 1972 and still continuing, highlights the value of sport and that was something to which all members of the community should have access. The campaign initially hoped to increase the opportunities for sport and recreation through developing more facilities, and by informing and educating the public on what was available. More recently the campaign has become more diverse to target groups of the community that remain underrepresented in sport.
