An Analytical Study of Social Problems of Women Related to Sports

Abstract

In many societies sports are considered as an inappropriate activity for women. It is traditionally associated with masculinity. The aim of this study is to have critical analysis of the situation of sportswomen in the Pakistani society. The researcher has used nonprobability sampling for data collection and for this purpose snowball sampling and purposive sampling techniques are used. For this purpose the interview schedule is utilized as a tool and 210 sports women residing in different places of Pakistan are interviewed. The findings of this study highlights that due to social norms, values, customs, culture, myths, traditions, unstable economic conditions and erroneous religious outlook women are not able to participate in sports activities whilst, sports activities can give a channel to educate women about their communal, legal and physical rights along with productive and reproductive rights. The results show that in Pakistan, social issues are the main cause of decline in the participation of women in sports activities. A major concern of the study is to identify the crucial problems, which limits Pakistani women from participating in sports activities. In Pakistan on May 21st, 2005 a mini marathon race was arranged by the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to challenge the male authority based on socially constructed roles in order to prove and demonstrate their sports skills and activities publically. Historically, the perception regarding sports validates the gender-hierarchy by showing male supremacy as an impression that males are authoritative in all spheres of life. But now the perceptions are developing and it argues that we are in a state of communal instability by limiting women's participation in sport. It is observed that women avoid participating in sports activities to protect their honor in the society. As a result the status of women in the society is declining and they are not able to receive equality within the society without eliminating the false traditions and the societal perspective, which restricts women from taking part in all sort of positive and healthy activities including sports. This article aims to describe that false social issues exists in the Pakistani society also like other countries, which limited women to participate in national and international sports competitions. The focus of this study is to aware women about their absolute rights in the society and eradicating false myths and norms, which restricts them from taking active part in positive and healthy practices like sports. It is argued in present study that in Pakistan, presently we are in a state of communal instability with regard to women's participation in sports. Chapters 1, of the study provide the concise portrayal about the issue on which the entire cram is formulated. Chapter 2, is a pond of review of related literature. The researcher attempted to make it a genuine source of knowledge, covering every possible feature of the social problems of women related to sports. In Chapter 3, multistage sampling method is employed to gather research data. Chapter 4, presented the analyzed data in the form of simple and contingency frequency and percentage table. Chapter 5, indicates the narration of the whole work and has concluded research through findings. Researcher has given some appropriate recommendations. This study is extremely significant to find out causes and reasons of depriving women from taking part in sports. It may provide basis for further studies and researches.