Women and Sport - Culture, Media and Sport Committee Contents


Conclusions


1.  The increasing inactivity of children is, and should be, a major concern to the Government, to parents and to society in general, and schools are key to addressing the problem. We recommend that children's activity levels be measured annually, and that best practice amongst a few schools is turned into common practice in relation to encouraging higher levels of overall participation. This will need to include addressing specific problems such as poor facilities. (Paragraph 29)

2.  Though there have been initiatives to improve the training of teachers in PE, more needs to be done—at both primary and secondary levels—to ensure that PE staff are equipped to support every child in a wide range of activities. We agree with the Education Committee that the two-year timeframe for the primary sport premium is too short and runs the risk of replicating previous short-term fixes rather than providing a long-term solution to the inadequacy of PE teaching in schools. (Paragraph 30)

3.  Girls are being deterred from participating in sport by their experiences in school PE lessons. Unfortunately, an emphasis on competitive sport may make this situation worse for some girls. Schools need to be more imaginative in the type of sport that they provide for girls: while some enjoy team games like football and netball, or athletics, others would enjoy sampling a wider variety of activities, such as dance or cycling, or non-traditional games for girls like rugby. (Paragraph 31)

4.  While it is unrealistic to expect schools to provide facilities and coaching for a wide variety of sports, there are good opportunities for sports governing bodies to reach out to potential future players and spectators through forging links between local clubs and schools. While some progress is being made in this area, sports governing bodies need to inject more urgency and enthusiasm into this task, otherwise it is doubtful that they will meet their target of increasing participation in sporting activity by 14-25 year olds. (Paragraph 32)

5.  Whatever the reality, there is a perception amongst pupils and others that schools care more about, and spend more money on, sport for boys than for girls. We do not want to add to the bureaucracy on schools, but we consider that the decline in girls' participation in sport is sufficiently serious that schools should be made to focus more attention on the sports offered to girls. This might most easily be done by an amendment to schools' Public Sector Equality Duty, which we consider to be an effective but less heavy-handed alternative to the USA's Title IX legislation. (Paragraph 33)

6.  We are very concerned about the lack of communication and co-operation between Government departments, which we think presents a serious obstacle to the DCMS in its attempts to deliver the Olympic legacy. We recommend that the DCMS, Department for Education and Department of Health publish a joint annual report to Parliament on school sport, focusing on participation levels, the availability of different types of sport, partnerships with clubs and charities, and training for teachers. (Paragraph 35)

7.  We recognise that some progress has been made since 2005, but we are concerned about the persistently low rates of participation in sport by women and girls. We believe that this issue should be higher on the Government's agenda and, to this end, we recommend that the DCMS and Department for Health publish a joint report annually, in the wake of the APS statistics, indicating their response to those statistics. (Paragraph 51)

8.  Sports providers are experimenting with a number of options designed to meet women's needs for flexible, fun sporting activity. Some of the examples listed above are also low-cost and comparatively easy to organise, requiring only readily-available facilities and little or no specialist equipment. It seems likely, from the success they have achieved so far, that these initiatives will spread through the country. However, parkruns and cycling do not suit everyone, and there remain difficulties in accessing suitable facilities for other types of sport. (Paragraph 50)

9.  We look forward to the analysis of the Bury project, which appears to be imaginative and sensitive in adapting provision of sport to women's lives rather than expecting the reverse to take place. We hope that it is successful in sustaining the initial level of interest among women. (Paragraph 49)

10.  We are concerned that there are too few facilities to enable people easily to participate in sport. We acknowledge the pressure on local authority budgets, but we fear that a diminution in the number and quality of sporting facilities will simply increase the need for more expensive health and social care interventions in a less fit population, even if one does not take into account the loss to individuals. Provision of some basic facilities—pitches, swimming pools, sports halls—at low cost should be seen as a contribution to public health rather than a leisure programme. (Paragraph 58)

11.  We recommend a review of programmes, such as the Community Right to Bid, to enable local people more easily to defend the open spaces and facilities that they value. (Paragraph 59)

12.  Schools also have an important role to play in ensuring facilities are available in every community. We acknowledge the pressures on schools because of local authority budget cuts, but nevertheless we were disappointed to learn that some are reluctant to open up their facilities. This should be challenged. Both publicly-funded schools and those which claim charitable status have a duty to serve the local community, and, if they have sports facilities, should be required to report to the local authority, DfE or Charity Commission, as relevant, how they make those facilities available to local people. (Paragraph 60)

13.  We understand that the economic situation has severely limited the financial resources that public bodies can apply to the maintenance and improvement of sports facilities, and we acknowledge the attention that at least some sports governing bodies are giving to updating and improving sports grounds and clubs. However, more emphasis should be given to the needs of women, and of different groups of women, in the design and staffing of facilities. (Paragraph 72)

14.  In bringing so many dilapidated and outdated facilities up to standard progress is likely to be slow. In the meantime, enterprising people are trying out alternatives to traditional facilities, and we commend all these efforts to bring cheap and accessible sport to people. Sport England is already working with a number of these people, but we recommend that Sport England draw up a strategy to assist them with advice, small grants and to spread best practice, as locally organized, locally promoted sport seems to us the most promising way of increasing participation not only by women but also by men. (Paragraph 73)

15.  There are comparatively easy ways in which the media could contribute to reinforcing the view that women's sport is normal and worthy of interest. One example would be for more national newspapers to publish the results of women's matches alongside the men's. Another would be for journalists and commentators to refrain from discussing the appearance of sportswomen and from making derogatory comments about the ability of women in general to play sports. (Paragraph 83)

16.  The Sports Journalists Association concludes: "Nothing in Britain will supplant men's football, particularly the English Premier League." This is probably true, but the evidence we received pointed to a number of initiatives taken by some sporting organisations to maximise media coverage of women's sport that ought to provide inspiration to others. (Paragraph 89)

17.  However, it is not enough just to besiege the media with demands for more coverage. Sports are in competition for airtime and column inches, and need to understand the factors that make sporting events more attractive to broadcasters and newspapers. It is a matter of spreading best practice amongst the sport governing bodies. (Paragraphs 90 and 94)

18.  The issue of the number and prominence of women journalists and broadcasters should be irrelevant to the issue of how women's sport should be promoted. After all, the ultimate aim is for it to be considered completely normal for journalists of both genders to comment on both men's and women's sport. However, a number of women have made the breakthrough into being considered simply experts, and we hope that their achievements inspire others. (Paragraph 101)

19.  The fact that fans of women's sport are currently a market comparatively underexploited by commercial sponsors, and that female sports fans offer opportunities for new sponsors to become involved, should inspire sports governing bodies to offer imaginative deals to companies. Greater coverage of women's sport in the media should increase the audience for such sport, and enhance the attraction of sponsorship. (Paragraph 128)

20.  While no one is arguing for all elite sportspeople to receive the same pay or investment in training as premiership footballers, the gap between the support and rewards received by those men and almost all professional/elite sportswomen is vast. It would enhance the respect in which women's sport is held for women to be better supported financially; and it is likely that better pay would enable more high quality women to continue to play sport and to develop their potential. (Paragraph 129)

21.  Having more women in senior management and board posts is not an end in itself: it may serve to increase understanding of women's views and needs at the levels where decisions on the future strategies of sports are made, and it also helps the image of sport in general to become less masculine. We welcome the progress that has been made in opening leadership positions in sport to women but note that some sports have made more progress than others. We particularly regret the fact that popular sports like swimming and tennis are lagging badly behind, and that the FA appears to have made little progress in this regard since our predecessors' report in 2006. (Paragraph 135)

22.  Many of our witnesses argued that women would be encouraged to take part, and persist, in sport were there more female coaches. The sporting authorities are trying to encourage more women to become involved in coaching. However, low pay and long and inflexible hours are not attractive—though many clearly find great enjoyment and reward in teaching and helping others. While the poor conditions are common to both male and female coaches, and there is only limited scope for sport governing bodies to change them, it is very unlikely that the sexism and lack of respect displayed to one of our witnesses would be experienced by a male coach, and it is very disappointing that some of this behaviour was shown by fellow coaches. If sport governing bodies are serious about encouraging greater participation by women, then they must take action to drive this sort of behaviour out of their sports. (Paragraph 142)

23.  We applaud the NGBs that are succeeding in meeting Sport England's criteria for increasing participation. We are pleased that many of the sports that women most enjoy—dance, running, swimming, tennis—are among the 46 sports being specifically supported under the Youth and Community Strategy. (Paragraph 150)

24.  We believe that there should be an additional target in the Youth and Community Strategy for increasing the participation of women and girls, but that it should be imposed only on those NGBs that are not seriously addressing the potential for growing women's participation in their sport. (Paragraph 151)

25.  We support Sport England's approach of reducing funding to NGBs whose performance is lack-lustre and giving other bodies the opportunity to invest imaginatively in local schemes for boosting participation in their sports. We have been given enough evidence of popular initiatives like park runs and pop up tennis courts to conclude that Sport England should actively seek out further opportunities beyond sport governing bodies to work with whichever groups know best how to reach and engage people locally. (Paragraph 152)



 
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Prepared 25 July 2014