‘Boys will be boys’: Creating a new generation of male allies for girls in sport
Our research into what causes boys’ negative attitudes and behaviours to girls in sport in the early primary school years.
#WhatsYourLittleOneMadeOf
Women in Sport has been challenging gender inequality in sport for forty years. We know that throughout their lives women and girls face negative attitudes and behaviours from some boys and men, whether conscious or unconscious. This is particularly evident in sport.
Our latest research reveals that boys as young as five have learnt that sport is not for girls. Boys are surrounded by expectations that to be masculine they must be good at sport, strong and dominant.
“When boys are grown up they work and exercise. When girls grow up, they have to stay at home and make food.” (Primary school boy)
Sport is not valued for girls in the same way, which means that most young girls don’t learn skills like catching, throwing and kicking. So it’s hardly surprising that when girls and boys then meet at primary school the boys will dominate both in the playground and in sport. Boys see sport, football in particular, as fundamental to their identity. They don’t think girls can help them win.
The result is that girls are made to feel they don’t belong in sport. Their self-belief is undermined, and their confidence is gradually eroded. Ultimately, this stereotyping will exclude most girls from sport.
The problem is that gender stereotyping can be invisible, meaning we as adults unknowingly pass the same messages down to our children, generation after generation. We are unaware of the impact this has.
