SPECIAL POPULATIONS
into the night.” she says. “This will be of great help to women and girls, as one of the main obstacles is the huge gap in the hours that are allocated to men and women – most premium time slots are preserved for men’s sport.” Like White, Cafery is keen to make sure the new facilities – once open – will better take into account the needs of women. “The time-sharing issue is where the education of the facility operators and owners comes in,” she adds. “We need to make sure facility operators are aware of the need to cater for women as well as for men.” One thing is certain – the inactivity
of women and girls, especially those in poorer communities, is not a result of lack of interest in sport. According to WSFF’s Changing the Game for Girls report, there is a greater demand for sport from women than men, with 12 million women in the UK wanting to play more sport - half of whom are currently inactive. These figures are mirrored in similar studies around the world. Women want to do more – but feel they are unable to. “I think it’s a case of making sure
everybody who's involved in sport is aware and mindful of the need to push the women in sport message,” says White. “Whether it is a PE teacher working in a school, making sure there are enough
The success of rugby
While female participation in rugby has traditionally been low among women, a comparatively large proportion of women attend rugby games. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) tapped into this by developing a women’s strategy that looked to translate female rugby fans into rugby players. The scheme modified forms of the game and RFU figures show that since 2004, female participation has increased by 90 per cent.
choice to offer every girl something they want to do; or if it’s a member of an international federation of sport, making sure that the competition structure is right so there's development of the game and more women are participating in the sport in more countries – also that the prize money and awards are equalised.”
LEADERSHIP For many, the key to changing the way women’s sport is organised, played and viewed is to enable more women leaders. For Adriaanse, having female representation is crucial to ensure the needs and requirements of women are taken into account. “The barriers to participation are directly linked to the leadership issue,” she says. “There need to be women among the people who provide the programmes, develop policy guidelines and allocate resources. It’s the only way to ensure the programmes which are developed actually meet the needs of the girls and women.” There is clear room for improvement.
In England, WSFF’s latest Trophy Women report – an annual look at the number of women leaders within English sport – shows there's been an increase in female representation across NGB boards and senior management teams. In its conclusions, however, the report states
Rugby union has been hailed as an example of best practice when it comes to increasing the number of women playing the game – and the recent World Cup win by the women's rugby team will provide a further boost
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sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 3 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
PIC: ©
WWW.SHUTTERSTOCK/MARK HERREID
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