Carolize Jansen
The Sports Information and Science Agency conducted an extensive and enlightening study on the participation of women in sport last year. The main objectives of the study were to obtain the number of women participating in various sports in South Africa, segment the number of these participants in categories according to, for instance, age, race and geography and thirdly to determine women’s needs and attitudes towards sport.
Here are a few interesting statistics from their research:
l Of the 12,5 million women (18 years+) in South Africa only 2,5 million participate in sport.
l This means 21% of women, compared to 40% of men, do sport.
l Of these women, 48% are white, 32% Indian, 18% Coloured and 15% black.
l 45% of black women have never done any sport, compared to 20% of white women.
l Unmarried women do more sport than do married women, with housewives doing the least sport of all.
l Most female sport participants live in Gauteng (30%) while fewest live in the Northern Cape (2%). KwaZulu-Natal accounts for 16,8% of sportswomen and the Western Cape for 15,2%.
l Among the obstacles facing women regarding sport, household responsibilities were mentioned most often, closely followed by pregnancy, financial constraints and lack of encouragement and facilities.
l 80% of SA women believe that women’s sport does not receive enough television coverage.