If something was good for mental health, physical health, development and body image would you only encourage it in your son?

Probably not….. Why would you want your sons, but not your daughters (or boys but not girls) to benefit from something that has shown to be important “improved physical fitness, cardiometabolic health, bone health, cognitive outcomes and mental health”. Yet, studies repeatedly show a gender gap in participation in sport. With International Women’s Day tomorrow (March 8th), how can we encourage our daughters to participate in sport, while also making our boys allies.

Perhaps you think sport is the least of our problems when it comes to gender equality, but with its physical and mental health benefits, the early age at which gender stereotypes emerge, and our role in perpetuating stereotypes as parents- it actually serves as a useful example of how we can encourage equality in our children in all areas of life.

What does the research say?

From age 7, girls are already less active than boys and the gap widens as they move towards adolescence. Girls are more likely to feel self-conscious about their appearance when playing sport, 26% lack confidence to play sport by age 7, increasing to 46% in their teenage years.

What does the lack of girls participating in sports have to do with boys and what should we do if we have sons or daughters?

Women in Sport found “that ‘sportiness’ is still seen as a fundamental part of a boy’s identity from a young age. With this, boys are finding it hard to break free from the expectation that to be masculine they must be good at sport, strong and dominant.”

This negatively impacts boys and girls. Boys who don’t like sport are pressured to take part, girls are excluded, and sporting environments become male-dominated, creating a cycle of gender stereotypes. These stereotypes are reinforced by parents - think of how often you hear about boys being more adventurous and energetic and how often girls are discouraged from contact sports (this is bared out in the statistics too). Sporting environments, sporting events and a lack of representation of women all add to that.

Parents have the biggest impact on children’s attitudes to sport. Women in Sport found:

“deeply ingrained gender stereotyping in parents influences their perceptions of their sons’ and daughters’ preferences traits and strengths, and the activities they choose for them or steer them towards.” …We heard parents describe boys as strong, physical, good at knowing the rules of sport and playing team sports, whereas girls were described as kind, caring, emotional and good at drawing, schoolwork and housework – not sport.”

These stereotypes translate into boys views of what “sporty girls are good at”

What does this mean for my parenting?

🤽🏻‍♀️ It is important to actively challenge stereotypes at all opportunities. You can use it as an exercise in critical thinking. Ask your kids if boys are better at sport than girls, and challenge any stereotypes that come up.

🤸🏼 Research shows girls benefit more from encouragement from their parents when it comes to participation in sport. It is likely that existing stereotypes (for example in school and from friends) already encourage boys into sport, so extra effort might be needed to get girls to participate.

🚴🏼‍♀️ Don’t just share female role models with girls, boys need to see incredible female athletes too. Help them to become allies, not opponents.

🏌🏾‍♀️Be an example to your kids. Are there female role models in your family that participate in sport? Who takes the kids to sport, or watches sporting events?

Women in Sport have some excellent resources for parents here:

Welcome to the community! If you're new here, I am Dr Michele Veldsman, neuroscientist, tech entrepreneur and mum of 2 (age 4 and 7). 

I am on a mission to support parents with real, evidence and science-backed parenting advice. I want to make parenting less lonely and less overwhelming. 

What you can find in my parenting community: 

1. A fortnightly, evidence-based newsletter (you can catch old editions here: https://playroom.beehiiv.com/)

2. A guide to brain-based parenting here

3. Access to my parenting community for monthly support and on-demand expert guidance https://parents.playroom-app.com/