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Factors Influencing Female Participation In Sports Among Undergraduate Students
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Female
participation in sports has come a long way. Efforts have been and are
being made in getting more females to participate in sports. However, a
lot more efforts is still required to generate greater female
participation in the world of sports (Linus, 2003).
In the ancient
Olympic games as reported by Jackson and Harris (1999), women were not
allowed to watch the activities let alone participate in them. By the
end of the nineteenth century, English women from the middle classes
were taking part in sports. Victorian attitudes meant that women played
in cumbersome dresses making movement difficult (Jackson et, al, 1999).
In the early twentieth century, the national governing body of some
sports were formed and there were organized competitions for women
different from that of men. Women competed for in the Olympic games for
the first time in 1904 but only in archery (Jackson et al, 1999).
Jackson et, al (1999), also opined that the first world war was the
turning point for women sports where the myth that women were unable to
cope with men’s sports was broken.
Attitude regarding female
participation in sports are changing over the years as women in sports
have continued to grow. There are females who have made sports
participation part of their daily life. In spite of all these, female
participation still fall a lot lower than that of the males (Eileen,
2005).
The under-representation of females in sports is an issue of
national concern so it becomes a matter of national concern for
government and non-governmental sports organization to implement
solutions.
The aforementioned raises questions as to what females do
with their leisure time particularly after completing secondary school.
Research has indicated that adolescence who are idle become involved in
high risk behaviors including substance abuse as argued by Iso-Ahola and
Crowley and cited in Buffer (1996). Research studies have also
suggested that participation lowers the rate of sexual activity and
teenage pregnancy. The women sports foundation (Digest, 1997), has shown
that the involvement of girls in sports also reduce dropout rates from
schools. The promotion of female participation in sports will help
create a contest for women to lead healthier and productive lives.
Participation
in sports has been associated with positive steps that can lead to
better lives. Girls who take part in sports help to build self
confidence, a positive body image and have been linked with lower level
of depression (Digest, 1997). Girls who partake in sports become
physically healthier in terms of strength and weight management.
Early
involvement in sports can also minimize the development of a number of
health conditions (Digest, 1997). A healthy body nurtures a healthy mind
and school based physical education and sports programmes are ideal to
facilitate fitness and acquisition of life time skills. It therefore
seems important to know and understand factors that could promote
greater female participation in sports.
This study will focus on
factors influencing why some girls take part in sports focusing on the
above dimension would reveal positive reasons and negative reasons that
also cause many girls to choose not to participate in sport.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study in its totality is an attempt to investigate the factors influencing female participation in sports among undergraduate students of the University of Benin. The need for this study becomes necessary owing to the fact that despite the health benefits derivable from sports participation, female participation is at the very low level.During the process of carrying out this investigation, five research questions were formulated and tested. 100 copies of questionnaires were administered to ... Continue reading---
