Is sport sexist?
A 13-year-old girl with aspirations to be a professional football player has been told by her PE teachers that football is a boy’s sport.
Darcie, 13, from Cwmbran in Torfaen, has played football since the age of eight.
“I ask my PE teachers if I can play football, can I do that as a recommended sport and they say no because it is a boy’s sport.
Darcie tackled her PE teacher’s comments with positive efforts to continue playing the sport she loves.
“I want to play football, and I don’t want someone to criticise me,” she said.
The National Education Union said this was “unacceptable” and hoped that common sense would prevail.
Carly Fairey, the mother of 11-year-old football-enthusiast Grace, said: “Why should gender matter when you’re playing a game of football? Girls should have as many opportunities as boys, otherwise isn’t this sexist?”
Seventy-five percent of girls and women want to be more physically active yet struggle to get involved due to fears of judgment, even with schools implementing more funding than ever into girls’ sporting activities.
A recent survey conducted by SSE has reported a shift in the public perception of women and girls playing football.
