Thu, October 30, 2025
Experts warn that the taboo surrounding the female body is one of the leading factors in preventing girls from pursuing sport into adulthood
Experts have told the parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee that the taboo surrounding the female body is one of the leading factors in significantly preventing girls from pursuing sport into adulthood, with 64% of girls giving up their sport by the end of puberty, as stated by The Guardian. This is prohibiting “a generation of fit and healthy women.”
Gold medal winning former Paralympic wheelchair racer and Member of the House of Lords, Tanni Grey-Thompson, raised such concerns to the parliamentary committee: “The summer of sport has been amazing, there are always spikes in participation that follow but you have got to have more than just the inspirational moments, you have to have programmes behind it…
What’s really important is that we have a generation of fit and healthy women, and 80% are not fit enough to be healthy – and that’s because of all the barriers to participation we know about.”
Chief Scientific Officer at The Well HQ, Dr Emma Ross, stated: “Sport is an amazing place for us to teach girls about their bodies. We know that over half of girls will skip sport when they are on their period. Over half have issues with their breasts when undertaking physical activity, be that pain, movement or fear of judgment; 40% of girls during puberty have urinary stress incontinence…
You ask girls to use their bodies and then their bodies do things that don’t feel like they work with sport; like having a period, like developing breasts, like leaking urine when you’re jumping around. But we don’t create an environment that says, ‘this is normal and here’s what we can do about it.’ If we can get that right we’d be on a winning streak.”
Ross acknowledges that “it’s not easy to do” but believes that “it doesn’t require money” either.
“What it does require is everyone in that space feeling comfortable talking about the topic and they often don’t.” Ross also believes that coaches need to expand their knowledge on the topic and express greater empathy in relation to such issues.
Alongside the stigma surrounding the female body, physical safety concerns and the rise in abuse that elite female athletes face, not only in relation to their bodies but in general, are other examples of barriers that result in this inequality.
The UK Parliament statement on the issue can be found here.
