Playing, Not Winning, Sets Women Apart
The Age
Sunday September 12, 1993
EVERYBODY knows now that exercise is good for them. A sedentary existence is high on the list of Great Lifestyle Crimes of the '90s along with cigarettes, double cream, leaded petrol and polyester clothes. While Australians recognise the physical, emotional and social benefits of huffing and puffing, there are still not all that many people participating in structured fitness programs or organised sport. There are more, however, doing something.
The last report from the Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories showed a trend to less sedentary lifestyles in Australia, but only 13 per cent of women and 16 per cent of men were ``highly physically active", ie, engaged in vigorous physical activity three times a week.
Walking was nominated as the ``preferred activity" by 42 per cent of the men and 58 per cent of the women studied; swimming ranked second for both followed by aerobics for women and gymnasium for men.
There is little difference in the numbers of men and women participating in sport and exercise, but there are big differences in the way they approach them.
Shirley Brown, executive officer of Womensport Australia, said that women tended to view sport as a recreational pastime, even though it might be competitive. Most men approached it aggressively and competitively.
``Often the social part is more important to women than winning.
That's not a blanket statement. Some women are very competitive," she said.
More women recognised the importance of recreation in terms of health and wellbeing, according to Ms Brown, but too many were still motivated by the quest for the ``body beautiful" _ the slinkiness held up by society as an ideal that few were able to achieve.
``They are doing it to look good rather than feel good...Because they are exercising for the way they look, they find it difficult to get in touch with what their bodies can do.
Ms Brown said that in Australia, ``fattism" was a worse problem than racism and cited an example of this in the behavior of a six-year-old child who said to a classmate after a school test: ``You might be better at maths, but I'm thin.
At least 80 per cent of Australian women have been on a diet and while they knew they couldn't achieve the mythical ``perfect" body, Ms Brown said women were judged on how well they tried.
She said that both men and women had a distorted perception of how their bodies appeared, with men distorting in a positive way and women in a negative way. ``I had read that and did a few experiments, asking people to close their eyes and estimate the size of their hips. Women tended to estimate them as larger and men as smaller.
``Men don't have the same pressures as women. They are judged on achievement rather than appearance.
Self image and body image also had a lot to do with the reluctance of some women to participate in sport, she said. ``It used to be the case that if a woman was not good at a particular sport, she dropped out.
That prompted a negative reaction to her body. This is changing, I think. There are now more options for women and we are seeing them try things they haven't done before, such as abseiling and surfing.
Adult participation in sport and exercise was related to childhood participation and interest, and Ms Brown said that stereotypical assumptions were also a strong factor in forming teenagers' attitudes to sport. If a girl was strong and aggressive and therefore competitive and able at sport, she was unlikely to see herself as feminine. ``Accessing the benefits of sport and exercise is more challenging to girls than boys," she said.
``Women who are aggressive and strong are not valued in society.
Another significant factor that affected women's participation in sport and recreational exercise was the demands of a family. ``A lot of women drop out after having a family. They are doing the double shift of home and work, get tired and drop their sport when it is something that could really help them cope," Ms Brown said.
Family commitments as a barrier to exercise were confirmed in the report with 78 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men surveyed saying that children prevented them from participating. The other common reasons both men and women gave for not exercising were ``too lazy", ``not motivated" and ``couldn't get started." Being ``too shy" was also a barrier for a large number of women.
The report also confirmed that those who were more active had better cardiovascular fitness apparent at all age levels and that both men and women were fittest in the 18 to 29 age group. Those who maintained physical activity remained fitter throughout their life. The fitness level of those who led a sedentary life dropped sharply around the age of 70.
``As we age, we actually need to be more active to delay the onset of ageing factors such as stiffening joints, weakening muscles, decreased metabolism and so on. Instead, we do less and compound our problems," said Fran Whittingham, national coordinator for Community Fitness, Physical Education and Recreation.
The organisation runs low-cost community fitness programs in local halls and community centres and Ms Whittingham said that about 95 per cent of the participants in these programs were women, but that could be largely because child care was offered.
``People come to lose weight, get fit, meet friends or just have a break. Some progress to gyms, but we have others who have been involved in our programs for 20 years. Making that first step into a gym is difficult for some people.
Ms Whittingham said she believed Australians were becoming more active and predicted that this would increase in the future.
© 1993 The Age