Participation in Sport and Recreation by Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Women  

Pages in this section:

• Definitions
• Focus group participants' current activities

Definitions

Sport and recreation

The Australian Sports Commission defines sport as:

A human activity capable of achieving a result requiring physical exertion and/or physical skill which, by it's nature and organisation, is competitive and is generally accepted as being a sport - ASC website, (http://www.ausport.gov.au/nso/recognition.asp).

While recreation activities are not so clearly defined, this research focuses on recreation activities that involve some physical exertion, usually done for exercise. Unlike sport, recreation activities are not generally competitive. The sport and recreation activities CALD women from the focus groups participated in can be categorised into three groups:

1. Organised sport: a person may be competing individually (for example, swimming, athletics, cycling, triathlon, martial arts) or as a team member (soccer, netball, hockey, football, etc)
2. Organised physical recreation activities: not usually competitive but organised physical activity, such as non-government organisation, club or gym based walking groups, Tai Chi, yoga, aerobics;
3. Informal physical recreation activities: non-competitive, individual or informal group based-activity, such as walking, jogging or cycling alone or with a friend or playing unorganised sports with friends/family at picnics or in the park. This category can also include physical activities not done directly for exercise, but that have a physical exertion effect, such as gardening

Focus group participants' current activities

Many of the women who participated in the focus group did at least some informal physical recreation activity. For example, 59 per cent of women (48 of the 82 who answered the question) identified that their current sport and recreation activities included walking. Other (less frequent) informal activities included running, cycling, swimming, weights, cardio-work in a gym, bushwalking and gardening. A number of women participated in organised physical recreation activities like aerobics, dancing, tai chi and yoga groups or classes. A minority of women were active in organised competitive sports, like netball, soccer, table tennis and squash. Table 8 provides a categorised list of the range of activities the women were involved in.

Note: Some activities can fit within more than one category. For example, tennis can be played both as a competitive sport and in a less formalised setting. The activities placed in columns reflect the type of participation by the women in the focus groups. Note that some women were doing activities in more than one group.

Note: Some activities can fit within more than one category. For example, tennis can be played both as a competitive sport and in a less formalised setting. The activities placed in columns reflect the type of participation by the women in the focus groups. Note that some women were doing activities in more than one group.

Organised physical recreation

The range of organised physical recreation activities reflects the important role these activities play in women's lives. They provide both health and social benefits without the rigidity, commitment or competition of organised sport.

Some of the women specifically chose informal or individual sport and recreation opportunities over organised team sports, which were sometimes associated with pressure, competition, sress and responsibility to others rather than personal enjoyment. The Japanese women, for example, tended to prefer individual and informal sports over organised, tetam sports:

I choose individual ones because individual ones you don't need to worry about other team-mates. If you're in a team and you couldn't achieve anything at all you feel enormous pressure and I hate that (Naoko, group 8).

Women from other backgrounds also participated in organised physical recreation activities because they disliked the pressure of team, organised or competitive sports. Marion, a Swiss German in her late twenties for example described:

I used to do competitive sports as well when I was younger and I never felt at home. So I did sports for a couple of years until I found a way to do it comfortably independent of competition. (Group 7)

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Informal physical recreation activities

As discussed above, the most common sport and recreation activity amongst the women was walking. In the focus groups, the women also described how much of their sport and recreation activity took place in community settings with family and friends. For some of the women, such as the Pacific Islander women in regional NSW, sport and recreation activities were important aspects of community gatherings and celebrations. Michelle explained:

Sport is very big in the community, like on the weekend, we could get together to play volleyball and have a BBQ... sport is more a social thing ... with us, everybody comes, like aunty, uncle, everybody. ... The spectators get up, they dance, they sing, and then they sit down, and that's more exciting than the actual game! And that's why sport is an important thing because it brings the community together and it brings dancing and singing. (Group 11)

As well as participating in regular organised activities with women in her age group, Linda participated in informal recreation activities with family:

In our family I think we do a lot of sports definitely together, even when we go out on a picnic we organise races for the kids, we have three legged races for ourselves, egg and spoon race, so to us, to our family, sports activities are very very important. (Group 4)

Importantly, the group reporting the lowest level of involvement in sport and recreation in the study - Somalian women - had also participated in informal sport and recreation activities, such as dancing and walking. However, this group had only encountered the concept of physical activity for leisure, and indeed the concept of leisure time itself, since arriving in Australia.

Perspectives on organised sport

In addition to being involved in sport in informal, family or community contexts, some women in nine of the groups were involved in organised sport, including netball, soccer, basketball and touch football.³ A few were also involved in teaching, coaching, umpiring, or committee work in their clubs.

Even those who were not currently participating in organised sports had been exposed to them as children, often at school (although the sports played were not necessarily common in Australia). Those who did not have access to school were often at a disadvantage when it came to sport, as Afia (from Burundi) explained:

With sports, when you didn't have a chance to go to school, you don't know anything. If you went to school you have chance to know everything, but if you didn't go to school - because in our country it's very difficult to go to school because you have to pay money, and in our country you don't have enough money to pay, maybe you have twelve children and to go to school is very hard to pay for all them. ... If you didn't go to school, you don't know anything (group 6)

Sports played in childhood remained familiar, influencing women's chosen activities later in life. Two women in their early forties in regional NSW, for example, explained why they played netball:

We get used to the sport that we were brought up with (Moana, Papua New Guinean).
For me, I know the rules; I'm familiar with it (Michelle, Pacific Islander).

However, most of the Middle Eastern and African women and some of the Indian women had not had opportunities to play sport previously, and found they had greater opportunities to participate in Australia, or to try new sports. Priyanka described:

Because you've never been given the opportunity it actually encourages me to get into involved. (Group 1)

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Frequency of participation in moderate or vigorous physical activity

On average, women who participated in any of the three categories of sport and recreation reported doing so for at least 30 minutes three days per week. Most commonly, women stated they participated in moderate to vigorous physical activity two or three days per week (see Table 9).

Of the 12 participants who do not do at least 30 minutes of physical activity per week, eight were born in Iraq. Some women who were not currently doing any moderate to vigorous physical activity had participated in sport and recreation overseas. This was particularly apparent amongst the Japanese women in the study. Kagami, aged in her early 20s described this:

Before I came here I used to do sports. I played swimming, running, basketball, and since I'm here about 7 years ago I stopped all the sports. (Group 8)

Some of the reasons women like Kagami might reduce or cease their involvement in organised and non-organised sports, or choose not to become involved are explored in Section 7, which considers the barriers to participation women in the study identified. Lack of participation did not necessarily signify disinterest.

Interest in sport

The general interest in sport and physical recreation rated highly among the interviewees, even by those who were not currently participating. On a range of 1-10 (one being 'not at all interested' and ten being 'very interested') the women in the focus groups scored an average 7.4. Interestingly, eight of the Iraqi-born women reported that they were 'very interested' in sport, and yet all eight women also reported that they do not participate in physical activity on any day of the week. On average, those who did not participate in organised sport rated their interest in sport only slightly lower than the sport participants (6.8 compared to 8.1).

Summary

The women in the focus groups who were sport and recreation participants were involved in a diverse range of activities. These can be divided into three categories: organised sport (competitive and formalised), organised physical recreation activities (non-competitive, group based and semi-formal), and informal physical recreation activities (non-competitive, individualised, friend or family based and informal). These different categories of sport and recreation play varying roles in the women's lives. Organised physical recreation activities were particularly important for health and social benefits and provided a structure that was perceived to be less rigid and less confronting. On average, the women in the focus groups participated in moderate to vigorous physical activity three times per week. It was not necessarily a lack of interest that prevented the non-participators from becoming active.

3. For a breakdown of the groups by participant and non-participant status, see Table 4.