News article
Top storyUNESCO study reveals huge sports drop-out rate among girls
A new study has found that a massive 49% of adolescent girls drop out of sports participation, while alarmingly more than one in five women athletes (21%) have suffered at least one form of sexual abuse as a child in sport.
The stats come from a new report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which demonstrates that women and girls’ access to sport is still lagging behind at all levels, from grassroots to professional.
The UNESCO Sport and Gender Equality Game Plan provides a roadmap for policy makers across governments and sporting organisations. The plan outlines three urgent challenges facing women and girls in sport: ending gender-based violence; reducing teenage girls’ dropout rates and increasing the number of women in leadership roles.
The inequality continues into elite level, with UNESCO highlighting the pay gap. Forbes Magazine’s list of the 50 highest paid athletes in the world does not include a single woman. Plus there is a severe lack of women in leadership roles; only 30% of the world’s largest sports federations were chaired by women last year, according to UNESCO’s report.
This lack of suitable role models is just one reason why so many young women drop out of sport, along with concerns around safety, low confidence and negative body image.
“If we want to turn the tide on the shocking drop out rates of teenage girls around the world – we need to equip our coaches and educators with the soft skills they need to deliver safe and enjoyable sport for all,” Nancy McLennan, a UNESCO expert in social inclusion in sport, told Global Sustainable Sport.
“If we want to turn the tide on the shocking drop out rates of teenage girls around the world - we need to equip our coaches and educators with the soft skills they need to deliver safe and enjoyable sport for all."
McLennan added that UNESCO is aiming to rectify these issues facing women’s sport with its Fit for Life partners including Nike, Futebol Dá Força Foundation and TAFISA (The Association For International Sport for All). Fit for Life is a UNESCO programme that helps to accelerate recovery after COVID-19, and supports inclusive and integrated policy making.
UNESCO has further called on its Member States to implement six measures including using sport to change mentalities by promoting women athlete role models; ensure equal and fair media coverage across women’s sports; establish and enforce comprehensive regulations, with a particular focus on safeguarding standards; bolster reporting mechanisms and judicial processes to streamline the process of prosecuting perpetrators and encourage survivors to come forward; and invest in education and training to help recognise, prevent and respond to violence.
Additionally, UNESCO called for members to incorporate survivor voices and strengthen the research around discrimination or violence in sport.
While there is still a long way to go to achieve gender parity in sport, the organisation noted the positive gender equality indicators for the impending Paris 2024 Games, and how this should be used as an accelerator for the appointment of more women in sports leadership roles.
Image: Armin Forster from Pixabay