Have you ever wondered about the question, “are boys better or are girls better”? It’s kinda like the Montagues and the Capulets over here. Well, if you think of it, there really is no answer to that question. Why? Everyone is different! Every boy is different and every girl is different and some girls and boys have things in common. So why do we say that girls can’t play sports when we know that that’s only a stereotype? We do have girls who are extremely successful athletes like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova but why do we think that is not true. Why do we treat the opposite gender so unfairly(talking from the boys perspective)? There was an incident where in UWCSEA in a grade 7 classroom, the teacher was going to project us our teams for sports day. In one team, where there were lots of boys and girls, one boy came up to me and said, “Dude, we have a lot of girls in our team. We are so going to lose”! This then led to our class, 7SMu, finishing in last place in sports day. Was this because the girls were discouraged or because girls didn’t try their best because they think the stereotype is true? When girls have the ability to play sports, why don’t they choose to because of the stereotype? I was able to interview girls and ask them a few questions. The questions are:
Why do they not choose to play sports(if they don’t)?
What they think about the stereotype?
Do they believe in the stereotype?
The first girl I was able to interview was a girl named Anonymous(her name will not be shared for the purpose of this article). Anonymous is not the girl who would go and play sports at all! In fact she is nowhere close to being sporty as anyone. When I interviewed her, this is what she said:
“I can’t be bothered to play sports! I have so many other better things to do like homework which is much more efficient”.
Before even asking the next question, I stopped and thought. Maybe it’s not the stereotype, maybe sports is not girls interest. On the other hand, this goes straight back to the stereotype; girls are smarter and neater. So what is it? This got me as confused as a rubix cube but I think after a few interviews, I will be able to see the “bigger picture”.
The second person I am going to interview is a person named Ms Cindy. Ms CIndy is the school’s counsellor. Her job is to address issues about people who are facing some problems in school like cyberbullying. Here are the answers to the questions I asked:
The fear of not being of not being good at sports
No, I don’t think that’s a stereotype. Many girls play sports, there are stereotypical sporty girls and stereotypical girls, who some of do not play sports.
I was also able to interview everyone in my english class about who plays sports and who doesn’t. 11 people play sports and 6 don’t.
After looking at the answers of Ms Cindy Tisdale McPhee and from the class tally of the girls who play sports and don’t…. you can tell that every girl seems to play a sport except for a few girls who don’t play sports and are passionate about other things.
In conclusion, after looking at the results from interviews and surveys, the stereotype of girls not playing sports is a stereotype. Its fake! It is complete belloni as they say. All girls play a sport, just like boys. Girls and boys are equal and there shouldn’t be any gender gap.
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