Summary: The Role Of Engaging In Sports

use sports to improve people’s lives (United Nation 2005). Those who engage in sports use it as a medium to have fun as well as appreciate the positive social interaction with peers and other competitors associated with it. Athletes can enhance their individualities like leadership and moral development, and pro-social sports behaviour by sports engagement (Weinberg and Gould, 2011). Sports can be used as a powerful social tool to change dominant ideologies (Appleby and Foster 2013).The subject of growing research efforts are attempts to know the factors influencing leisure activities and its positive contribution on health (Mannell, 2007). Recently, sports is used as a catalyst for social change and also to challenge the common way of thinking,

There have been attempts by various interest groups to close the sports participation gap between men and women. For example, Cortis (2009) notes that, in modern years, there have been attempts to address the barriers to women’s participation in sports through women centered organisations, events and exercise spaces. These women focused organisations, have provided several opportunities to engage in sports resulting in women feeling more confident and comfortable in sports and fitness environment Cortis (2009). The purpose of women only events is give women the opportunity to develop physical skills, health, and confidence associated with engaging in sports. Women centered gyms/spaces have found a place in sports events with several races like tournaments like volleyball have been created for women only (Appleby and Foster 2013:13). This has advantages like increased participation rates and a disadvantage of sending mixed social signals (Schofield and Dickson

In many societies, it is considered unsuitable for women to engage in sports, and women who do so may be perceived as masculine activity (Server 2005). This phenomena of ideology and homophobia expressed by the media end up discouraging female athletes from expressing themselves genuinely. This demotivate women from engaging in sports (Appleby and Foster 2013) resulting in fewer women frequently seen participating in sports activities than men (Server 2005). Scholars have shown that these hegemonic and homophobic stereotypes are strengthened through the chronic underrepresentation of women in the media (King 2007). Social-class hierarchies create inequalities, by maintaining the sex-gender system (Besnier and Brownell 2012) and also reinforcing damaging social trends like racism, gender inequity, and excessive violence (Appleby and Foster 2013). Again, researchers have doubts if women will continue to engage in sports as they age as a result of factors such as work, parenthood, confidence, and the environment (Appleby and Foster