Hansard

I draw attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am pleased to be taking part in this afternoon’s debate on a subject that needs greater focus. I welcome women and girls in sport week and I thank the organisations that have provided briefings. I thank sportscotland and I would also like to thank the Edinburgh Mavericks korfball club. Korfball is a sport where the team is made up of four men and four women, and three female players from Edinburgh will be competing in the European korfball championships in the Netherlands from 12 to 21 October.

It is absolutely right that we recognise and celebrate the work that is being undertaken to properly understand what the gap in participation in sport is, why that gap exists, and what action is being taken to close the gap. Why do some young women turn away from competitive sport? Why do some young women never get involved in the first place? Of course, as Anas Sarwar has said, boys drop out too, but far more of them do not. What are the implications of that gendered non-participation? I am pleased that we are discussing the issue and I think that we have much more to learn and understand.

According to research by Women in Sport, published in its statistics report for 2017, coverage of women’s sport makes up 7 per cent of all sports media in the UK. Just over 10 per cent of televised sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport, just 2 per cent of national newspaper sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport, 5 per cent of radio sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport, and 4 per cent of online sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport. I actually think that it is pretty incredible that the gap is not much wider; we are hearing literally nothing, to judge from those statistics. We should also note that some of the spaces where sport takes place are very masculinised indeed.

We know that physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors of death globally. Professor Nanette Mutrie, in evidence to the Health and Sport Committee, said that the evidence for the benefits of being active is solid and cannot be ignored, and that physical inactivity is more harmful than smoking.

The Parliament has shown that it can be really bold when it acts to improve public health, and I am very proud of the action that the Parliament took to prevent smoking in public places. The evidence was clear that smoking was a leading cause of disease and premature death, and Parliament acted. We need to get bold when it comes to physical inactivity. I appreciate that the issue of physical inactivity is broader than the issue of the low rates of women and girls taking part in sport, but they are closely related. I was pleased to learn, via the Scottish household survey, that people have become more active. However, we know that participation is greater among those who are more highly qualified, and that participation is lowest in the most deprived areas.

Last week, I was privileged to host the wonderful Paths for All Partnership awards in Parliament. It was a truly memorable evening—the minister enjoyed it, too—and it demonstrated that the benefits of walking go way beyond physical health. I cannot commend walking enough. As the minister said, it does not all have to be about competition, but if he wants to take up the step count challenge, I remind him that it begins on 29 October—we will see how we get on.

Walking does really well in terms of gender equality, with 69 per cent of men and 71 percent of women taking part in recreational walking—well, it is recreational now, but it will soon become very competitive. We know that if we take walking out of the equation, just over half of adults take part in physical activity, and we see that—as Anas Sarwar mentioned—far more men than women participate in sporting activities. The impact of habit and beginning early in life cannot be overstated.

Dr Morgan Windram-Geddes—who has spoken to the cross-party group on children and young people in the Parliament—pointed out in her PhD thesis on “Everyday geographies of girls’ experiences of physical activity, gender, health and bodies” that:

“policy is concerned with children’s bodies in respect to weight, fat and obesity, and to what children can and should do to decrease their body weights to satisfy health policy.”

She comes to the conclusion that the way to improve girls’ participation in sport is to get away from the obsession with weight and begin to focus more on enjoyment. She writes:

“Girls’ experiences are multiple and diverse. An activity which one girl enjoyed was loathed by another girl. Having to wear white t-shirts and black shorts for PE kit was hated by one girl but not given another thought by a different girl. Doing PE with the boys was reflected on positively by some girls and met with fear and anxiety by others.”

Girls and women face particular barriers and challenges in engaging with sport. The obsession with women’s bodies, their fitness or otherwise and the need to appear on the beach in a bikini has become regarded as completely normal. I do not see many magazines selling themselves with pictures on the cover of men in or out of their bathing shorts before or after an exercise programme. We have to change the focus, and play has an essential role.

The cost of access to sports centres has been mentioned. There should absolutely be a cost beyond which we cannot go at a national level, as the cost of access to some sport centres in this city is quite frankly prohibitive.

We have seen some really good work in specific sports. I have been involved in athletics all my life, and I think that we are a particularly good brand with a very strong story to sell. Other sports are beginning to catch up, but I would like us to come back to the chamber next year and seek to ensure that the gap has closed markedly. There is still much more to do, and I look forward to working with colleagues to achieve our aims.