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 does physiological 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 influences women 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