Holyrood convener slams ‘completely unacceptable’ gender gap in sport

The convener of a Holyrood committee has described the gender gap in sport and physical activity as “completely unacceptable” as the panel publishes a report on the barriers facing women.

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee released the conclusions of its inquiry on Monday, showing a 10% gap between men and women accessing sport and physical activity.

Women, the report said, were deterred by the fear of harassment or abuse, the lack of coverage of female sport in the media and the impact of social media on their body image.

Convener Clare Haughey said: “Our extensive report has revealed the many and varied barriers that women and girls face in participating in sport and physical activity, which can have profound negative repercussions for their long-term health and wellbeing.

“Statistics show that female participation in sport and physical activity in Scotland is lower than that of males from the age of 11 years old, with typically a 10% gender gap in participation. Quite simply, this is not acceptable.

“Whether it’s due to fears over safety, suffering harassment or abuse, stereotyping, or a lack of understanding of the specific needs and health issues that women and girls face, it’s clear that there are too many barriers standing in the way of women and girls.”

The committee specifically called for the Scottish Government to work with Westminster in the implementation of the Online Safety Bill, which was recently passed in the Commons and is currently awaiting Royal Assent.

The Bill will place new legal duties on big tech companies and service providers, which will be overseen by regulator Ofcom.

The report said: “The Scottish Government should work closely with the UK Government to ensure that, through implementation of the UK Online Safety Bill, social media companies can be issued with suitably comprehensive guidance and codes of practice that address the harmful impact of negative body image content on social media.

“This should include strong sanctions against those companies that persistently fail to regulate such content on their platforms.”

Ms Haughey added: “We are seeking more regulation of social media to ensure negative images and videos are removed and we also want to see more women’s sport featured in our national media, whether online, in print or broadcast.

“I would encourage policy-makers, those who work in sport and physical activity settings, and anyone with an interest in improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls to read our report and take the required action.”