Record high female participation in sport but gender gap remains
Women and girls have more opportunities to play sports that were traditionally male-dominated. Image: PoppyPix - stock.adobe.com
The sports participation levels among women and girls in Victoria are at the highest level ever recorded but remain significantly lower than male participation rates, the latest findings of a long-running research study show.
Federation University researcher Professor Rochelle Eime, who is leading the Sport Participation Research Project for VicHealth and Sport and Recreation Victoria, has run the Sport Participation Research project, with the main part of the project including data from 10 major Victorian sports. The project is the largest longitudinal study of sport participation worldwide and the only study of its type in Australia.
The latest report is for 2015-2023 and includes participation in Australian rules football, basketball, cricket, football (soccer), gymnastics, hockey, netball, sailing, swimming, and tennis.
The final part of the report includes data for six additional sports – bowls, golf, cycling, little athletics, rowing and surf lifesaving – added to the project in more recent years.
Among the key findings, the overall female participation rate was higher in 2023, with 10.1 per cent of females participating in sport, up from 9.5 per cent in 2022 and 8.9 per cent in 2021. By comparison, the overall male participation rate was steady at 18.3 per cent.
"We've been conducting this study since 2015, and each year we analyse more than a million community sport participants across 16 sports, and we've seen the data for the whole population has crept up to just over 14 per cent participation," Professor Eime said.
"The results show again that children have a higher participation – this is no surprise – and male participation has stayed the same for the last two years. Female participation has increased, which is great, but it's still much lower than the male participation rate.
"So it's good that women and girls are getting opportunities to play community sport more than ever, but we've still got a long way to go."
Professor Eime says the improvement in participation is likely linked to more state government initiatives focused on women and girls in recent years and more opportunities to participate at the grass-roots level.
Professor Eime says while women and girls now have the opportunities to play traditionally male-dominated sports like football codes and cricket, their retention rates are much lower than for boys and men. This can be related to the culture within individual clubs.
"Some clubs are fixated on looking after the men's teams and their development, and they don't necessarily focus on the women and girls and their inclusion and enjoyment. If people have fun and a quality experience at the club, they're more likely to come back."
The study also showed that participation rates were higher in regional and rural areas compared to metropolitan areas. Professor Eime says while sports including football and netball are often part of the fabric of a regional community, this isn't always the case in metropolitan Melbourne.
"In metro areas, there are a lot of private gyms, yoga and pilates studios – there are many different opportunities for people to be active," she said. "But a concern is there is much lower participation in metropolitan growth areas.
"This data and knowledge also helps with strategic directions within local government areas, highlighting participation trends within individual LGAs so that they can plan for programs and infrastructure for the future."
The research team cleans and analyses the sports registration data and provides individual sport and sector-level reports to assist with strategic planning and investment initiatives. Professor Eime says the project is a level playing field of reporting within and across the sport sector.
"As a sector we need to continually evolve the sport offerings so that individuals can choose different playing options that need their needs. Many children and youth drop out of competitive sport, but we don't generally offer different opportunities to play outside of the traditional competitive structure," she said.
"If they want to play with their mates, do some skills development and play a game that's not necessarily within interclub competition over a long season, they often don't have that option, so we need to offer more ways to play."
For more information, see the Sport Participation in Victoria 2015-2023 research summary