Abstract:

Women are among the most marginalized member of the society. There have been global concern about their equal rights and equal participation in the society. Physical education and sport are among the least addressed issues and when these two are merged the issue becomes doubly imperative. This study focuses on the women sports arena and fear of parents. In conservative societies like Pakistan women/girls are perceived under certain social, religious, cultural, economic standards. They are more likely to be bound with prevalent norms and values than their counterparts. Similar is the case with their participation in sports and related physical activities. Parents have negative perception when it comes to girls’ participation in sports. For data collection a qualitative method was applied by the researcher. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with students, teachers and parents of Govt. Girls High Schools in Lahore City. For this purpose, convenience sampling was applied by the researcher and a sample size of 5 students (3 sports participants, 2 other students), 3 teacher and 4 parents (2 mothers and 2fathers) was drawn. The data was carefully collected from the defined sample of the study. Focusing on the main objectives the study explores the scope of women in sports in Pakistan and the role of parents and their fears regarding women participation in sports. Findings of the study reveal that most of the parents have their fears based on religious beliefs, socio-cultural and economic factors. At the same time psychological prejudices also play constructive part in this regard. Girls’ participation in sports is limited by such prevailing fears of parents. It is needed address such factors that cause fears among parents so that scope of women participation in sports can flourish.

Keywords: