Women's Participation in Sports: Obstacles and Facilitators

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors participants identify to influence their participation in sport. This ethnographic study used three primary data collection methods: autoethnography, interviews, and participant observation. Two non-probability sampling methods- purposive sampling and snowball sampling methods were used to select participants for the study. Seventy participants took part in the study: 25 participants were observed and 45 were interviewed. To analyse the fieldnotes and transcripts, I used inductive coding methods including frequency count, ordering, sorting, and categorisation. The factors which influenced participation in sports belonged to two categories, facilitators and obstacles. The facilitators were: interpersonal factors, intrapersonal factors, policy and physician recommendations, and environmental factors. The obstacles were: financial issues, non-support and inadequate time. Results show that there were more facilitators than obstacles influencing women’s participation in sports.