{"id":19363,"date":"2017-01-16T14:58:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T14:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=19363"},"modified":"2020-09-25T10:51:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T09:51:53","slug":"social-media-and-sport-can-it-improve-a-girls-self-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/business-culture\/social-media-and-sport-can-it-improve-a-girls-self-confidence","title":{"rendered":"Sport, can it improve a girls self-confidence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many young women suffer from a lack of self-confidence, often due to how they see women being portrayed on social media. Research has shown that by playing a sport, a girl\u2019s self-esteem can be significantly improved. Three social media campaigns are leading the way.<\/h2>\n

Worryingly, 69% of girls aged 7 to 21 years feel they are not good enough. Many of those do not take part in a sport due to fear of judgement and little self-confidence. However, three campaigns run by Sports England, Always and Girlguiding UK, are showing that by taking part in physical activity, a girl’s self-confidence can be increased.<\/p>\n

Frankie, 22, is an example of how these campaigns can impact a person’s life. “Before taking up netball, I had little self-confidence and could not step out of the house without a full face of makeup,” she said. “However, playing netball has given me confidence not only on the court but in my everyday life.\u00a0 Because of sport, I now have the confidence not to need to wear makeup every day just to go out.”<\/p>\n

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Finished my third and final year playing for Cardiff IMG netball today as LEAGUE WINNERS ???? #cardiffimg #netball #bestteam #winners<\/a><\/p>\n

A photo posted by Frankie MacDonald (@frankiemac27) on Mar 9, 2016 at 9:30am PST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Research by Sports England, Always and Girlguiding UK have found that women believe they are judged more on their appearance than on their ability. They believe that they cannot succeed in a sport because they are female.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at the media’s portrayal of female sports these statistics are not surprising. How many time have you seen the female counterparts of male-dominated sports such as rugby and football being showcased on the main television channels at the weekend? Not often enough. The majority of these sports shows the male version of the sport, often without evening mentioning the female equivalents. Even though in all cases the female versions exist and in some cases are more successful regarding achievements than their male equivalents.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The lack of female sport being shown on the television, alongside a girls\u2019 teenage years being the most turbulent in their lives due to puberty and their social world changing around them. It is not surprising that many girls lose their self-confidence and up to 50% of girls quit sports.<\/p>\n

Luckily there are three social media campaigns currently going on trying to buck this trend. Each campaign has the aims of empowering young women by boosting their self-confidence and lead to more females participating in sport again.<\/p>\n

The campaigns are:<\/p>\n