Socio-cultural barriers Influencing female participation in sports in rural South Punjab

Muhammad Farhat Hayat

Abstract

Pakistani society is patriarchal in its structure. Gender discrimination is evident in every sphere of life. The situation is much worse when we explore it in sports activities. Females traditionally are known as weak as physical strength is concerned. Society in general and family in particular, never encourage their girls to participate in sports activities. If somehow the family agrees to allow girls to participate in sports, then the socio-cultural environment is a bigger hurdle in female sports participation. In the current study, the researchers try to explore the major causes or barriers which restrict girls to enter the world of sports. For this purpose, the researchers selected rural south Punjab and District Dera Ghazi Khan as its research location. The researchers conducted interviews with 20 female students who are studying in secondary schools of rural areas of Dera Ghazi Khan through semi-structured interviews. The results have shown that female students are not allowed to take part in sports activities by their parents. Social and physical environment, both are not encouraging for the female to participate in sports. Structural discriminations are also play a big role in restricting females from sports activities. There are no sports grounds for females in rural areas. As a result, there is nothing favorable for girls’ participation in sports in rural areas of Dera Ghazi Khan. There is a need to change both, parents thinking and society's attitude to encounter this problem.

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