Getting Girls in Sports: Keeping Her in the Game

In honor of Women in Sports Day, which took place on the fifth of February, I was reminded of a provocative ad that has intermittently appeared on my television screen over the past year. The clip, sponsored by Gatorade and produced by the Women’s Sports Foundation, depicts girls on the brink of puberty playing in a soccer game. One girl is about to shoot on goal, and as she approaches the ball, a voice from the loud speaker pervades the field. The voice articulates the magazine headlines that girls are frequently bombarded with, including, “Time for a makeover?” “Hide your flaws,” “Are your abs bikini ready?” and “Make yourself irresistible.” This voice commands the attention of the girls, and many of them become entranced, and in a brain-washed stupidity reminiscent of a science fiction movie, they file off of the fields in droves, their ponytails transforming into blow-outs, their soccer uniforms morphing into provocative dresses and heels, their faces becoming covered in makeup. A narrator then addresses the audience: “When society bombards them with messages like these, it’s no wonder that by age fourteen, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate boys do. Don’t let them walk away from their potential. Visit the Women’s Sports Foundation.”

Women’s Sports Foundation clip

After viewing this hair-raising P.S.A., I followed the suggestion of the narrator, and visited keepherinthegame.com, a website dedicated to keeping girls in sports. On the main page of the website, the Foundation urges the web user to donate, with set options that indicate what your money will go towards, such as donating $9 to “Help keep a girl in the game” (whatever that entails) or donating $40 to “Get a sedentary girl into the game” (again, not really sure how the Foundation assigns these values), all the way up to donating $2,700 to “Fund a Travel & Training grant to a female athlete.” Navigating away from the Keep Her in the Game section of the website, and into the rest of the Women’s Sports Foundation website, I found the meat of the issue.

The website has a plethora of information on Title IX, which is the current legislation upholding women’s participation in sports. For those of you not familiar with Title IX, it’s a federal law enacted in 1972 which states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Now, you may read that and ask, “What’s its connection with girls’ participation in sports?” Since its implementation in 1972, Title IX has given female athletes equal opportunity in sports in schools that receive federal funding. Many an article can be, should be, and has been written about Title IX, so I won’t get too into detail, I mentioned its presence on the Women’s Sports Foundation website to express its relevance to girls’ participation in sports.

In addition to historical information about Title IX, the website provides statistics on women’s participation in sports, such as that female high school athletes receive more than one million fewer athletic opportunities than their male counterparts, female collegiate athletes receive $183 million less in NCAA athletic scholarships than men, and that in general female high school and college athletes have less access to resources such as equipment, facilities, and uniforms.

In addition to the information associated with Title IX, the website provides some circumstances that can lead to younger girls dropping out of sports. These factors include lack of access and opportunity as compared to boys, safety and transportation issues, the social stigma attached to being a girl that plays sports, decreased quality of experience as girls grow older in sports, the cost of sports, and a lack of female role models in sports.

All of this information, which proves women’s marginalization in sports, begs the question, what are the repercussions for the lack of sports resources and opportunity for women? A study by Don Sabo and Phil Veliz titled “Go Out and Play,” confirmed the benefits of sports in girls’ lives. The study suggests that participation in sports can positively affect the lives of children as young as elementary school age. The researchers have found that sports help children become well adjusted, improve girls’ quality of life, and benefit children through many positive social, educational, and health outcomes.

A subsequent study, “Her Life Depends On It II”, supports the notion that sports are beneficial to a child’s development. The study demonstrates that when girls lack access to, or for other reasons do not partake in, sports they are looking at an increased risk for a host of mental and physical conditions. These conditions include increased risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, and participation in risky social behaviors such as smoking, illicit drug use, unprotected sex, or sex under the influence of alcohol. In regards to mental health, girls who exercise in moderation face lower rates of depression and suicide than their non-athletic counterparts. Sports participation also benefits the educational experience, as girls who participate in high school sports are more likely to graduate college than their peers. Across all of these categories I’m sure that we could generalize the benefits of sports participation for both sexes, but due to the wide gender disparity, it’s of paramount importance to stress girls’ participation in sports, lest they face these conditions later in life.

The “Go Out and Play” report concludes with suggestions for how to improve girls’ participation in sports. The report urges its readers to provide young girls with the tools to succeed in sports. One major problem that girls face in sports is access: early access to sports, family access to sports resources, and access to school-based and after-school physical education. If we can provide girls better access to sports, then we should see their participation levels improve. An additional strategy to engage more girls in sports is to address girls’ broader interest in sports and exercise activities.

After learning from the Women’s Sports Foundation about the obstacles impeding girls’ access to sports, and the repercussions of their lack of participation, I look forward to further legislation and social change to encourage more girls to join and stay engaged in sports. As a member of the Pomona-Pitzer lacrosse team, who has dabbled in almost every sport you can name over the expanse of my life, I recognize the importance of sports in structuring my life. Sports provide me with an alternative learning experience, they improve my health through exercise, and they keep me too busy to potentially engage in risky behavior. Granted, I recognize that some girls simply do not see themselves as athletes, and may have more ease with a paintbrush than with a soccer ball, but these studies aren’t simply encouraging participation in organized sports. Exercise of any variety is crucial for good health, and who doesn’t enjoy the warm glow of post-exercise endorphins? In any case, I urge anyone interested about Title IX, girls and sports, or the benefits of exercise to visit the Women’s Sports Foundation Website posted here: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/

Kacey Jones is a sophomore at Pitzer College and a double Economics and Spanish major who dreams of working in media development