How Sports Can Empower Women

Girls and women face a disproportionate number of life challenges, which reduce their ability to know their full potential. Despite all the talks about gender equality, women empowerment, the overall rate if progress for women, particularly those from the poorest and most marginalised regions has been slow. Women continue to encounter inequality and deprivations in their daily lives, which prevent them from contributing towards both the creation of more equitable societies and sustainable development within their communities and beyond.

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Sports can potentially offer a wide range of life benefits for women. Sports as an embodied practice may liberate women from constraining hegemonic feminine ideals, empower them within their communities, provide positive health and welfare outcomes, and ultimately transform gendered notion leading to a more fair world and unleashing the productive, intellectual and social power of women. This, then, would contribute to overall development, be it economic, social and political.

In India, we see calcium deficiency especially among women. If a person is having a good diet and workout then problems like osteoporosis can be cured. Sports make it easier. The best thing about sports is that person starts leading a disciplined life. Leading a disciplined life automatically cures some major day-to-day problems like gas and acidity issues. Sports make life more smoother. If women are into sports, she takes care if not just herself but her whole family as she knows how important is it to have good diet and stay fit. Sports can help in keeping your body strong and healthy.

A woman is a mother, daughter, sister and a wife. We can say that she is a complete package and has some major responsibilities. When she comes into sports, she learns so many things like time management, confidence, team spirit. So I'd say she is the one person who can teach others to imbibe these things in their life.

Martial arts, a form of sports, is so beneficial for ladies. For example, through the practice of Karate, girls are encouraged to develop a sense of self awareness and a sense of ownership over their bodies. They learn basic self defence techniques which eliminates the fear of being violated in the middle of nowhere which is something that every girl is scared of deep down at her heart. Gradually they develop a sense of self confidence, determination and self motivation.

Athletics teaches confidence, assertiveness, discipline and time management. The confidence is the biggest piece. For those who are more shy and introvert, sports give them a place to go all out and be a competitor.

I feel sports is an important social and economic empowerment tool. It helps them in acquiring new professional network, develop a sense of identity. Also sports acts as a medium to improve women's leadership roles and decision-making ability and help to convene people across borders, cultures and belief systems. They promote greater tolerance and understanding and may challenge gender stereotypes. Sports can be an accelerator to women actualising her full potential to create social networks, build mental and emotional health, educated about her rights, develop tactical, technical skills as well as physical strength. Sports enables women to stay updated about their rights and raise voice against the wrong done in society. It helps them to develop their own self and thought process which is very important for the overall development of self, society, country and whole wide world. It gives them a sense of self dependence. It give those women representing India at National and international level, a sense of proud.

Sports give women an appropriate physical outlet. It makes them feel good about themselves. It gives them an opportunity to learn how to build teams and work collaboratively. It gives them an opportunity to find similar souls and flaunt off their talent that they possess and learn something new. They learn how good it feels to win but also what it feels like to lose, since we're not going to win in everything that we do. The failure then becomes the major motivating factor which forces them to do better. Sports empower women completely from inside and out.