Why do girls drop out of sports?
Throughout childhood and adolescence, girls play four times less sport than boys and also abandon it en masse after the age of 14.
BarcelonaElite athletes and mass sports, as well as the athletes who earn the most and have the greatest media coverage, have traditionally always been men. As this is a cause of a primarily cultural nature, perpetuated for a long time, it is necessary to empower girls and young women when it comes to starting and consolidating themselves in the sports they like. But how can this be done? Alejandra Domínguez, director of the Women's Sports Institute (WSI), suggests starting by "providing truthful information." And she maintains that "we tend to assume that the salary differences between male and female athletes are due to some type of discrimination, when what happens with sport, like with any business or industry, is also subject to the laws of the market and, therefore, to gain access we must submit to its rules." This does not mean, she clarifies immediately, "that nothing can be done to improve or that there is nothing to do." In fact, in his opinion, everything that falls outside the concept of the sports industry as a business should enjoy special protection. "We must ensure that access to sports becomes a reality for everyone," he stresses.
In 2021 the study was published Youth sport participation trends in Europe, prepared by Leeds Becket University in the United Kingdom and in which the European University of Madrid also participated. It showed, among other things, that throughout childhood and adolescence girls do four times less sport than boys. At the Women's Sports Institute they are aware of this great gap. The director, Alejandra Domínguez, points out that the underlying problem that prevents equal opportunities in physical education and sport – defended by UNESCO as a right of all girls and all women – "is not only the lack of opportunities". The factors are "multiple and diverse", so "knowing them is essential to design and materialize possible solutions". For example, "the influence of our role models at home is very powerful, so it is essential to value the active and sporting figure of the mother (or father)," says Domínguez.
Information and training, a key combination
Another issue that hinders the possible projection of girls in the sports field has to do - as occurs with scientific-technical careers - with the lack of female role models. As was made clear in the debate Towards greater equality in sport In the 2016 edition of the Women's Football Association (FBA) held on 23 January at the Macaya Palace of the La Caixa Foundation, there are proven facts such as the lack of female coaches on the benches and women in the boardrooms of clubs and federations, or the fact that only 5% of sports information refers to women. A third factor that could be behind the unequal proportion of boys and girls in some sports disciplines is the prejudices about which sports are more "for boys" or "for girls", prejudices that, thanks to the recent achievements of the women's football team, with Alexia Putellas at the head, are becoming more evident. For Domínguez, these references serve, among other things, "for young women to consider these sporting objectives as a firm option for professional development". Here, she insists, "good information and, above all, training come into play again".
Higher dropout rate in adolescence
The Leeds Becket University study, however, said that the most sport is practiced between the ages of 12 and 14 in both sexes. It also said that women practiced volleyball, dance, swimming, athletics and skiing, while men preferred football, followed by other disciplines such as wrestling, boxing, basketball and table tennis. And what happens after the age of 14? That both girls and boys stopped playing sports, with the difference that boys usually took it up again when they came of age and girls abandoned it forever, a behaviour that Alejandra Domínguez attributes to multiple and diverse reasons. Adolescence, she points out, "is a time when girls are more interested in sports than boys." per se a particularly sensitive stage in which details can become decisive". It is also a period in which "excessive responsibility and self-demands make an appearance in the lives of these young women, which is why they end up prioritising other objectives before sporting ones". % of the professionals who perform a management role in their respective companies are or have been connected to sport in some way, "this figure would change".
Special Olympics basketball player Paola Manjón touched her first ball at the age of 5. "My mother bought me a ball and we went to play on a court," she recalls. After 21 years, Manjón has not only won gold at the Special Olympics in Berlin in 2023, but more recently she has received the Female Athlete Award given by the Barcelona City Council, a recognition that only reinforces her decision to dedicate herself to what she likes, basketball, a discipline in which she began competing with da since she was 12, when she found support and encouragement at the new school where she made her debut, after suffering some episodes of racism in the previous one from her classmates.
When it comes to saying what playing brings to her, she says that basketball has been "a salvation and a teacher" because it has helped her to improve herself, "as a person and as a player." However, it helps her to let off steam and free her mind. That is why she does not consider accepting a job that does not allow her to dedicate herself to her passion. "One of the reasons why I decided to take these exams - which have allowed her to work in Parks and Gardens of the Barcelona City Council - was that the schedule allowed me to practice sport without restrictions," stresses Manjón. The basketball player has a degree in a major field of floristry and continues to train twice a week at the ACIDH-Lluïsos de Gràcia school.
When it comes to advising all those girls and teenagers who are thinking about leaving the sport they are passionate about because at some point they have felt discriminated against simply for being women, Manjón would tell them not to hesitate to try it "and that if they like a sport, they should be able to enjoy it." And she would also send a message to the parents of all those children who would like to practice a sport, but are afraid of feeling rejected: "Support them, accompany them and help them as much as you can so that the child is happy doing that sport or that activity in question." Support should be redoubled in the case of those girls who "probably will not see that sport as a possible career simply because they are women."