64% of girls give up sport by the end of puberty
Tanni Grey-Thompson outlines ‘barriers to participation’
Taboos around women’s bodies are holding girls back from pursuing sport into adulthood and preventing the creation of “a generation of fit and healthy women”, a parliamentary committee has heard.
With surveys showing 64% of girls give up sport by the end of puberty, experts told the women and equalities committee that a complete sea change in understanding around the impact of sport on female bodies is required, but that such a change is possible and “if we get it right we’d be on a winning streak”.
Speaking in front of the committee, Tanni Grey-Thompson framed the scale of the challenge after another year of great sporting success for women at the elite level. “The summer of sport has been amazing, there are always spikes in participation that follow but you have got to have more than just the inspirational moments, you have to have programmes behind it,” she said. “What’s really important is that we have a generation of fit and healthy women, and 80% are not fit enough to be healthy – and that’s because of all the barriers to participation we know about.”
