AusPlay: Women in Sport Focus
Louise Eyres GAICD
Passionate about working with high growth organisations I Certified Chair I Non Executive Director I CMO I Advisor
News coming out of the Australian Sports Commission’s latest AusPlay research shows two big take-outs:
1. WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS ARE AS ACTIVE AS MEN AND BOYS both overall and in frequency of participation in sport and physical activity.
2. HOWEVER, TEEN GIRLS ARE LESS LIKELY TO PARTICIPATE IN ORGANISED SPORT THAN TEEN BOYS OF THE SAME AGE
While women are active on 5.1 occasions per week compared to males 4.8, duration of activity tells a different story, with women’s active sessions tending to be much shorter on average than males.
On one hand, when it comes to non-sport related physical activity such as walking and going to the gym, women have a higher participation rate than men.
However, women are less active than men when it comes to sport-related activities, with a decline in team sport participation kicking in between the ages of 18-24, a trend that continues well into middle age.
It’s important as an industry we continue promoting positive and empowering messages to young women to stay in sport as long as possible to build healthy habits for life.
It is also critical the sports sector continues to improve its understanding of why young women are less active in organised sport and modify our sport offerings accordingly.