A new study has found that 70% of women saw girls drop out of sport when they were at school due to clothing and related body image concerns, with many left feeling “sexualised” by what they were forced to wear.
Published on Friday in the journal Sport, Education and Society after research compiled by England hockey international Tess Howard, the study also found that wearing different uniforms can influence the development of a fear of “masculinisation” and “butch/lesbian” perceptions in sport, and “signal the ways uniform can contribute to harmful athletic-feminine identity tensions in teenage girls”.
Recent studies have shown that by the age of 14, only 10% of girls meet physical activity health standards.
“The findings I discovered, in terms of the number of girls this is putting off sport, is truly alarming. It’s the most underrated cause of low female sport numbers,” said Howard.
Her research has led to new inclusive playing kits regulations being launched at the start of the domestic hockey season.
“It’s all about choice; choice is being rigorously inclusive. No person should be put off participating in any sport based purely on what the uniform requires them to wear. We must put the purpose of sport first and enable individuals to enjoy being active for all the clear benefits.”
Howard scored in England’s victory over Australia at the Commonwealth Games last year as they won a historic gold medal, but missed out on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
She is hoping her research, which included responses from more than 400 women aged 18 and over, can help to bring about change at the highest level of sport.
“My dream is to go to the Olympics, but my dream is also an Olympics with the option to wear shorts or skirts,” she said.
“That is a powerful statement of inclusion, belonging and evolution in women’s sport. If people want to wear shorts or leggings playing basketball or tennis or gymnastics it does not matter.”
The Football Association confirmed on Monday that the England women’s football team will switch the colour of their shorts to blue after longstanding concerns about wearing white during periods.
