MADRID, 26 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Eighty-three percent of young adolescent girls do not practice sports on a regular basis and just under one in four (23.5%) sports licenses are for women, according to the I X-ray of female sports in Spain presented by the Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV) of Madrid and the Women’s Sports Institute.
The dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and director of the Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences at the UFV, Nuria Mendoza; the founding partner of the ‘Think Tank’ Women’s Sports Institute, Laura Múgica; the player of the Spanish field hockey team María López García, and the director of the CSD’s Women and Sports Program, Natalia Flores.
The X-ray has made an analysis of the presence of women in federated sports, where 76.5 percent of the sports licenses that exist in Spain belong to men and 23.5% to women. In other countries such as France, the figure for women with a sports license reaches 32%, almost 10 points above the Spanish reality.
On the other hand, 12.6% of men habitually practice a federated sport, compared to 3.7% of women. “We are stagnant and without policies to promote sports practice in women, there will be no changes,” explained Laura Múgica.
Another aspect that has also been analyzed is which sports have the greatest and least female presence. Thus, gymnastics stands out, with 90% of licenses for women, followed by volleyball (75.3%), horse riding (69.2%), skating (61.9%), swimming (46.4%) and athletics (44.7%).
On the contrary, the sports with the least female presence are hunting (0.7%), aeronautics (3.50%), motorcycling (5.10%), fishing (6%), cycling (6.50%) or chess (10%). In this sense, they have highlighted the great difference that exists in the number of licenses for men compared to women (6.5%). “These figures generate a lot of optimism because we women like to play sports”, declares Múgica.
“According to the analysis of the figures for team and individual sports, we see that women practice individual sports to a greater extent, reaching in this case 26.1% of total licenses, somewhat above the average. These data leave for the 19.2% of women practice team sports “, explained Laura Múgica.
“If we continue to delve into the segmentation by type of sport, we can see how women by number of licenses can conclude that they do not like, or do little, sports with weapons, neither with animals nor motor sports. However, they do like them. combat sports, “added founding partner Women’s Sports Institute.
83% of Spanish girls and adolescents do not do sports on a regular basis, but at 18 it seems that women realize the benefits of doing physical exercise and begin to practice it regularly. “It is necessary to review in depth the training plans in school age and much remains to be done,” added the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.
“If we take a look at the number of federated athletes with some disability we find a total of 12,200 athletes with some disability and 25.7% are women (total 3137 women). Once again we also find in this case a greater representation of women” , explained Nuria Mendoza.
SPORTS IN SCHOOL AGE AND TRAINING STAGES
The radiography of women’s sports in Spain has also analyzed sports practice in women of school age and formative stages. Thus, according to the Mapfre Foundation study on ‘Young Women and Physical Activity’, it stands out that sedentary lifestyle is greater in women than in men, with women being 46% and boys 24%.
The highest rate of abandonment of physical activity occurs in young women between the ages of 16 and 18. “Spain, must review in depth and reformulate its current school sports training plans from the earliest ages, focusing on awakening the interest and taste for sports practice especially in the case of women and implement more rigorous plans at the same time that more entertaining and formative “, concluded the dean.
Regarding high-level sports, women represent 37.9% of the total. The study ends with the analysis of women’s access to positions of responsibility and management in sport, which has reflected the composition of the 117 members of the General Assembly of the Spanish Olympic Committee, in which there are only 13 women.
Natalia Flores, from the CSD, stressed that the X-ray reveals the reality of the Spanish panorama, although she would like there to be more women. For her, the situation is not so pessimistic because the data have improved in recent years.
In fact, in the latest survey presented on sports habits, it is revealed that 6 out of 10 people practice sports in Spain. “From the Superior Council of Sport we try to create public policies to promote sport,” he said.
The Francisco de Vitoria University has recently signed a collaboration agreement by which the first Women’s Sports Observatory in Spain has been created, with the aim of developing knowledge around women, their sports practice, health and the essential leadership of the change in sports management. The I Course of Expert in Management of Women’s Sports will also be taught, in a blended format and aimed at professionalizing the management of sports practiced by women.