“Unfeminine” comment unhelpful
‘She should be championing women getting involved in sport, not repeating lazy stereotypes.’
The UK’s Sports Minister Helen Grant has denied saying that girls should try cheerleading if they do not want to play “unfeminine” sports.
Grant was criticised after she gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph recently in which she appeared to say girls who did not want to take part in “traditional sports” should consider cheerleading and that there were sports where girls could be “radiant and feminine”.
After the interview was published, Grant told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that the newspaper had taken her comments “out of context” and that it would be “naïve” to claim all women wanted to play traditional team or individual sports.
Speaking later at the Winter Olympics, she said: “I was specifically asked the question about what I, as the minister, was going to do about the girls who say they don’t want to do sport because they see it as ‘unfeminine’.
“Those were not my words. My response then, and my response now, is very much that sport is for everyone.”
Referring to her achievements as a junior judo champion and the number of injuries she sustained, Grant went on to comment: “You have to recognise that is not what every girl might want.”
“As the minister, I have to look at – and will look at – what everyone wants. It really is a matter of saying ‘Well, if you don’t want to do that, then what might you like?’”
In her interview with the Telegraph, Grant had said it was essential to ask women what they want, find what works for them and then “give it to them”.
“It’s having a good spread on offer.
“For example, some girls may well not like doing very traditional hockey, tennis or athletics, others might, so for those who don’t want to, how about considering maybe gym, ballet, cheerleading?
“It’s not just schools, it’s clubs, it’s being innovative. Actually looking at our women and our girls and asking, ‘What do they want?’”
The Sports Minister added: “There are some wonderful sports which you can do and perform to a very high level, and I think those participating look absolutely radiant and very feminine, such as ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading and even rollerskating.”
Laura Bates of the Everday Sexism Project called Grant’s comments “unhelpful”, while Labour MP Angela Eagle said: “I was really disappointed to see her saying what she said about cheerleading or women’s sports.”
Eagle continued: “She’s an equality minister, she’s the sports minister and she really should be championing women getting involved in sport, not repeating lazy stereotypes about women in sports feeling unfeminine.”
Reducing the participation gap between men and women in sport has been a key mission of Grant’s.
However, 1.8 million more men than women play sport at least once a week.
From the age of eight girls start to do less exercise than boys and the numbers continue to drop during teenage years.
A survey conducted by Sport England between April 2012 and April 2013 found that only 30.5 per cent of women were participating in sport once a week.
In a further survey conducted by BBC Sport in the wake of the London Olympics, just 10 per cent of women said they had been inspired by the Games to become more active.
An inquiry that began in 2013 into women’s participation in sport is due to produce its final report and recommendations later this year.
I discussed this issue with my eleven year old granddaughter on Friday evening when this news broke. She said “cheerleading is not a sport, its about women jumping up and down in short skirts, cheering on men”. Hoorah! How proud I am. I have not heard all of the subsequent commentary, but in all that I have heard, no one has made this point. We should be listening to young women who tell us the kind of sport they want to participate in; but at the same time we should be raising their awareness of the sexist, demeaning cultural forces that limit their participation and which encourage them into activities that position them as subservient to men. Then they will understand the oppressive nature of the concept of ‘femininity’.
My granddaughter gets this. As she said “that’ll be the day when men line up on the side-lines wearing short skirts and waving pom poms to cheer on women who are playing a sport”.
Out of the mouth of babies … 🙂