2. Four Economic Barriers To Women

2.4 Economical barriers:

Women are expected to commit and dedicate all of their time and money to their children, which leads to them to have little or no money or time for themselves for their own well-being. This links up with the socio-cultural factor which manifests these historical beliefs and expectation. These social practices are transmitted by the vast majority and not only by men, but also by women who share the same perception of what are normal and acceptable to society (Cailliau, 2013). Due to this, women experience a lack of time, lack of appropriate, safe and accessible infrastructure and a lack of clothing to participate freely in sport or any form of physical activity (Cailliau, 2013). This has a snowball effect where women

Due to the high cost of participating in sport they can’t afford to invest in equipment and gear needed as many of them have families to support. This does not only limit older women, but also affects young women’s sports participation directly because their parents can’t afford it or the lack of good, active role models in households for children due to bad habits of parents (Hatcher, 2016). Unfortunately, in order to be scouted for talent identification women often need to be part of a recognised club which means that membership fees, transportation, expensive equipment due to standard of a club and uniform, to name a few, can be a costly business - especially to the average South African (Hatcher, 2016). This just comes to show that the economic factor does not only affect the participation in sport but also performance. If young women have the opportunity to compete nationally or internationally there are usually sponsors covering the cost, but this is only available to some sports, usually more male dominated sports (Hatcher, 2016). In many cases a large amount of the total cost need to be provided from the player/s and this causes persons who cannot afford it to never excel beyond club level. This is visible at all levels - and women’s sport more often than men’s sport. For example, there is a large amount of money invested into rugby, which is a male dominated sport, to assist players to excel and provide only the best playing conditions. Female dominated sports such as netball does not get all the benefits and, unlike rugby players, can’t make a living out of their sports. This integrates with the education barrier where unqualified or non-team level-worthy coaches are employed because of cheaper