Women’s sports not as entertaining as men’s: Survey

A BBC survey, which was carried out across 14 states with 10,181 respondents, has presented findings on how women’s sports is perceived by people in India. In fact, a large number of people said that women are as good as men in sports while it was also found a majority speaking in favour of equal pay for female athletes.

But the survey also revealed that as much as 42% of the respondents felt that women’s sports is not as ‘entertaining’ as men’s.

Contrary to popular belief, though, despite their interest, Indians are not that into sports when it comes to actually getting on the pitch and participating. 64% of Indian adults never took part in any kind of sport or physical activity. When broken down by gender, the figured turned out to be even worse. Nearly one and a half times more men (42%) said they took part in sports than women (29%).

Unsurprisingly, though, Sachin Tendulkar remains the most popular Indian sportsperson, even though he has retired years back, with people naming the cricketer when asked to name an Indian sportsperson off the top of their heads.

However, 30% of the people who were surveyed could not name even one sportsperson. 50% could not name even one sportswoman. 18%, though, did name Sania Mirza, thus making her the most popular female sportsperson from the country.

The survey also revealed surprising findings about the attitude towards sportswomen when it came to what sport they chose. While Indian boys mostly play cricket, football, volleyball, run or cycle, the girls do not have so many options growing up. Wider sexism and gender biases that still exist in the country seem to dictate this.

A third of those surveyed picked up one or more sports like wrestling, boxing, kabaddi and weightlifting, which they believed were unsuitable for women. Activities regarded as being "least unsuitable" for women included athletics and indoor games, the research showed.

However, when you look at our top sportswomen, from Mary Kom to Mirabai Chanu, the country has had its greatest sporting moments through wrestling, boxing, or weightlifting. Breaking stereotypes and gender divide, they have done India proud by winning many international titles including in the Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Also read: India can take a lesson in women’s sport development from Canada