ABSTRACT
Women
participation in sports has been a controversial issue all over the world and
Nigeria is not an exception. This study examined the socio-cultural factors
influencing women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
The descriptive survey design was used while simple random sampling technique
was used to select a sample size of one hundred and seventy seven (177)
respondents comprised of female athletes in Delta Central Senatorial District
which covered eight (8) local governments. A self-structured questionnaire was
employed in collecting data from the respondents while one hundred and forty
eight (148) administered questionnaires were completely retrieved. Simple
percentage, frequency count and mean score as well as Chi-square (x2)
were statistical tool used at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Results
obtained from this study revealed that physiological markup, Cultural beliefs,
Social inclusion, Family background and Religion are factors that significantly
influence women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District. Hence,
it recommended that religious institutions and societal organizations should
frequently organize conferences, symposium and workshops with a view of
promoting the inclusiveness and active participation of women in sports across
the study area.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study
Sport
is an integral part of physical education which involves training of the mind
and body through physical activities. It involves all form of physical activity which, through casual or organized
participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental
well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at
all levels. Hence, the maintenance of physically active leisure-oriented
lifestyles has become increasingly important in developed societies (Van
Deventer, 1998). Involvement in sport and other sport related activities is
significant as it leads to competence in the physical world of sport and can
also extend to the real life situation (Grahn and Stigsdotter, 2003).
Consequently, it offers important opportunities to enhance health and wellbeing
as well as cultivate cultural diversity and promote social inclusion (Taylor
and Doherty, 2005).
Women
play an important role in society as procreators of the coming generation, as
well as producers of goods and services. In the modern economies they are
playing an important role in the labour force. However, in many Nigerian
communities, traditional perceptions of women as inferior to men continue to
prevail as many people invoke the preservation of African culture to justify
the subordination of women. As a result, men usually dominate women in the
political, religious, economic, academic and domestic spheres (Ashrafy, 2005).
Women participation in sport has come a long way. Women’s participation entails
the provision of equal opportunity to women to take part in sports activity. It
implies quantitative and qualitative participation of women in sports. Efforts
have been and are being made in getting more females to participate in sports.
However, a lot more effort is still required to generate greater female
participation in the world of sport (LeUnes& Nation, 2002).
Women’s
participation in sports is much under the influence of defined gender roles as
it has encountered many problems from the beginning. The thing that is
important in entrance of men and women in sport is the entrance to a sport
which is not traditionally defined with discrimination in favour of one sex.
Cultural race and social class are both of important factors in the experiences
of men and women discrimination in sport (Eftekhary, 2000). For women, one of
the biggest barriers associated with levels of activity is the perception that
physical activity is unfeminine. This is apparent in the gender imbalance
evident across the higher levels of the sporting industry, the media portrayal
of sporting activity and the formative experiences of many women (WHO, 2010).
Thus, today, one of the important and remarkable things in international
community is maintaining and observing the rights of women and equality between
men and women and gender discrimination.
Socio-cultural
barriers refer to the specific social and cultural limitation, practices,
beliefs and traditions within a community or society which might encourage or
discourage physical activity. Women are observed to be poorly represented in
sports as players, coaches, advisers and as team administrators. For instance,
many Muslim women due to the aspects of their religion rules on mixed gender
sports and dress code requirements have either prevented or given the
impression of preventing participation. Socio-cultural barriers might occur in
the other direction. Again, drawing on the example of Muslim Women, service
providers might hold negative attitudes relating to the specific cultural and
religious needs of Muslim Women (Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation, 2010).
The
emergence of women in sports is largely a twentieth century phenomenon. Infact
women made their first appearance in the Olympics in the 1900
(Bucher&Krotee, 2002). Even when the Olympics were revived, women were not
allowed to participate. The males have offered varied rationalizations for
subordinating women and much of it has rested upon the dubious assumptions of
women’s inherent weakness. The notion that women have been conditioned to be
what they are often is deeply rooted in the prejudicial social pattern of
different cultures in Nigeria. Women through the ages have always been viewed
to be made of milk and honey.
Consequently, in keeping with this metaphor, a feminine picture of a
woman was conjured up which seems to militate against females doing anything
too physical.
Women
participation in sports has been a controversial issue all over the world and
Nigeria is not an exception. Involvement in sports has taken a new turn in
which those who engaged in sports have various reasons for participation. In
the olden days, the reasons for participation in sports was for the sole
purpose of survival but in the world today, those who engage in sports have
various intrinsic and extrinsic motivation such as financial, satisfaction,
social, psychological, and fulfillment. Although, there are no laws, which
stated that women should not engage in sporting activities but there are
societal expectations, which hinder them from doing so. These societal beliefs
are strong to prevent women from venturing into areas believed to be for men
only (Okonkwor, 2007 and Adeyanju, 2009).
Previous
researchers have observed that women are poorly represented in sports as
players, coaches, advisers and as team administrators. The under-representation
of women in sports remains an issue of national concern. According to Adeyanju
(2009), observation of who is actively involved in sports in Nigeria generally
indicated that males constitute the greatest number either as players, coaches
and administrators. This is an indication that though there had been
transformations in women’s sports in Nigeria, great changes are yet to be
observed. In essence women participation in sports in Nigeria is not yet
adequate. Babatunde, (2001) and Okonkwor, (2007), found that culture and
tradition, age, gender, ordinal, religion, position, parents, as significant
socio-cultural factors which influence female participation in sports. It seems
that some women are still under the influence of the long existing culture. It
is against this background this pertinent question is raised. What are the
socio-cultural factors influencing women participation sports in Delta Central
Senatorial District?
The main objective of
this study is to examine the socio-cultural factors influencing
women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
Specifically this study aims at ascertaining if:
i.
Physiological markup is a factor
influencing women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
ii.
Cultural belief is a factor influencing women
participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
iii.
Social factor is a factorinfluencing
women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
iv.
Family background is a factor
influencing women participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District.
v.
Religion influence is a factor
influencing women participation in sports Delta Central Senatorial District.
The following
research questions guided the study;
i.
To what extent doesphysiological markup
as a factor influences women participation in sports in Delta Central
Senatorial District?
ii.
To what extent does cultural belief as a
factor influenceswomen participation in sports in Delta Central Senatorial
District?
iii. To
what extent does social factor influences women participation in sports in
Delta Central Senatorial District?
iv. To
what extent does family background as a factor influences women participation
in sports in Delta Central Senatorial District?
v.
To what extent does religion influence as
a factor influenceswomen participation in sports Delta Central Senatorial
District?
The following
null hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 level of significance were formulated
to guide the study;
i.
Physiological markup will not
significantly influence women participation in sports in Delta Central
Senatorial District?
ii. Cultural
beliefs will not significantly influencewomen participation in sports in Delta
Central Senatorial District
iii. Social
inclusion will not significantly influence women participation in sports in
Delta Central Senatorial District
iv. Family
background will not significantly influence women participation in sports in
Delta Central Senatorial District
v. Religion
will not significantly influence women participation in sports Delta Central
Senatorial District
This
study will create awareness of the socio-cultural influence of women
participation in sports. Hopefully this will help the government plan for the
improvement of women participation in sports.
This
study will contain useful information, which will help sports club to be aware
of the various socio-cultural barriers influencing women’s participation in
sports and to put adequate measures that will help in nurturing women interest
in sports and eventually have more Nigerian women (especially women from the
Delta Central Senatorial District) representing Delta State and the country at
an international level.
The
results of this study will be useful to policy makers in formulating adequate
policies that will help promote women’s participation in sports in the Delta
Central Senatorial District and Nigeria in general to meet international
standard. It was hoped that the research might lead to rethinking of ways of
policy implementation by policy makers thus improve policy formulation and
implementation processes.
Furthermore,
it is hoped that this study will be use to athletes in changing their negative
attitudes as regarding religious belief and family background discriminating
women’s participation in sports. It will be useful to sports spectators and
coaches in acknowledging the socio-cultural barriers relating to women’s
participation in sports while helping them to eliminate the possible
implication of this incidence in sports.
It
is expected that the results of this study will provide vital and useful
information to sports managers and administrators in sports organizations by
providing techniques for sports administration and management that will value
women’s participation in Nigerian sports while ensuring that domination and
discriminations of women do not prevail in sports especially as pertains to
rewarding and motivating the female athletes.
Finally,
this study will be relevant to students and lecturers in the department of
Physical and Health Education and other sports related departments in
institutions of higher learning in Nigeria who can embark on further research
on socio-cultural influence of women participation in sports, in other setting.
The study
investigated the socio-cultural influence of women participation in sports
using Delta Central Senatorial District as a case study. There are eight (8)
local governments in Delta Central Senatorial Districts namely: Ethiope West, Sapele, Okpe, Ethiope East, Uvwie, Ughelli North, Udu and Ughelli South respectively. The independent variables are sports physiological
makeup, cultural beliefs, social factors, religious factors and family
background while the dependent variable is women participation.
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