Perhaps, gender inequality in modern society is most apparent in the sports segment with girls not given the same encouragement as men to retain their interest in sports as a young adult. There is a strong need to educate parents, coaches, and training institutes with the kind of knowledge and experience that can not only help make sport fun for girls but also give them a better financial future.

Nike as one of the world's biggest brands of sports shoes, clothes, and equipment has launched many programs and released guides over the last few years on coaching girls and keeping them motivated in sports all through life and this is slowly making headway globally. A recent US meeting of the CNBC CEO Council that brings together global decision-makers across industries had Nike’s CEO John Donahoe stressing on the fact that employing more female coaches in various sports segments would encourage more young girls to participate and be retained against the many odds of playing active sports through adulthood.

Hiring more women coaches will retain girls in sports

As per Aspen Institute’s Project Play - a global nonprofit organization for creating an equitable society, strongly backed by Nike – many young girls are giving up on active sports as they become teenagers since they are not given the same kind of coaching opportunities as men and no one to understand their needs as almost 75 per cent of youth head coaches are men. 

Puberty changes a girl's body and mind and hinders a more sustainable relationship with active sports and female coaches would be positive role models to encourage them achieve their true potential. While for boys, puberty is just the opposite as they gain more muscle mass and become stronger and command more respect among peer groups when they excel in active sports.

“Most young people rarely, if ever, get the opportunity to be coached by a woman. This is a miss for all. To get girls active and invite them into a lifetime of sport, they have to see it to believe it – and that starts with more female coaches,” Vanessa Garcia-Brito, Vice president and Chief Social and Community Impact Officer, Nike explains.

Programs to encourage women in sports

Nike’s Aspen Institute Made to Play Coaching Girls Guide report says in some parts of the world, girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys for easily addressable reasons that can be prevented if there are female coaches to help them keep playing and get better with practice. It’s not just Asian countries with gender inequality issues, even in the US they get fewer sports opportunities than boys with barriers such as lack of experienced women coaches and sophisticated sports-specific apparel and equipment. Hiring women coaches globally in the sports segment is currently critical as personal needs such as reaching puberty, wearing fitted proper sports bras, societal issues, and gender biases are best understood by women for women.

Nike recently launched a program called ‘Coaching HER’ with the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sports, is a digital online coaching institute that will help coaches of all genders to improve their understanding of gendered bias and discrimination.

The maximum drop-off from games for girls globally occurs in the pre-teen and teenage years of 11 to 17, where they are most pressured to conform to social identities, whereas this is the age when boys learn to better themselves and excel in their favorite sport. With global giants like Nike having already addressed this global issue, other sport giants are expected to follow suit and rid the world of this menace of gender inequality in the sports arena.