Only 45% of women believe females are encouraged by Irish society to play sport, compared to 59% of men .

iReach Insights Press Release

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15th July 2019

Only 45% of women believe females are encouraged by Irish society to play sport, compared to 59% of men.

Half (49%) of Irish adults partake in sports/exercise as part of a team or individually.

The most popular sports for women are Swimming (39%), Yoga/Pilates (36%), and Dancing (27%).

The most popular sports for men are Soccer (29%), Swimming (21%), and Golf (21%).

The most common reason for quitting sports overall was no time (36%), with the second-most common reason for males being due to an injury (21%), or that school/studies got in the way (32%) for females.

Sports are a major part of Irish culture, but not all sports are perceived as being equally for both males and females. With this in mind, iReach Insights conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,001 Irish adults on opinions on gender and sports in Ireland.

59% of men believe females are encouraged by Irish society to play sport, compared to only 45% of women. 44% of women (compared to 32% of men) believe prejudices about which sports are for which genders still exist in Ireland. Additionally, 61% of women believe females aren’t taken seriously in sports, compared to only 46% of men. 37% of people feel most comfortable playing a sport with either gender, saying that it makes no difference to them.

The top sports rated as being for males were: 1. Rugby (84%), 2. Soccer (70%), and 3. Wrestling/Boxing (68%). The top sports rated as being for females were: 1. Yoga/Pilates (79%), 2. Dancing (70%), and 3. Walking (49%).

Females and males were roughly equally likely to choose a sport as being stereo-typically male, but discrepancies arose when ranking sports that were “for women”. Men were twice as likely to rank Soccer (29%), Basketball (39%), Fishing (17%), and Hiking/Mountaineering (20%) as being for women, compared to women (13%, 16%, 7%, and 8% respectively).

Half (49%) of Irish adults partake in sports/exercise as part of a team or individually, with half (51%) of those participating in individual sports like jogging or swimming. The most popular sports for men were: 1. Soccer (29%), 2. Swimming (21%), and 3. Golf (21%). The most popular sports for women were: 1. Swimming (39%), 2. Yoga/Pilates (36%), and 3. Dancing (27%).

41% of adults participate in sports 2-3 times a week, and 51% go to the gym 2-3 times a week. Those aged between 35-54 are the least likely to go to the gym 2-3 times a week (44%) compared to those 18-34 (53%) and 55+ (61%).

65% of adults say that have partaken in a sport they no longer play, with the top types of sports no longer played being Soccer (59%) and GAA (42%) for males and Basketball (32%) and Tennis (27%) for females. Females were more likely (76%) to quit sports before turning 18 than males (41%). The most common reason for quitting sports overall was no time (36%), with the second most common reason being due to an injury for males (21%) or that school/studies got in the way for females (32%).

About iReach Insights

iReach Insights provides a range of research and market intelligence services in Ireland and Europe. iReach has built a Consumer Decisions Research Panel of 40,000 members in Ireland, delivering robust research insights. The survey questions were included in the Nationally Representative iReach Consumer Decisions Omnibus run between the 27th June- 4th July and has a 3% Confidence Interval and 95% Confidence Level.

Questions asked of participants:

Please state how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Please select from the list below which kind of sports you think prejudicially are for men and which are for women?

Do you partake in any kind of sport or exercise (as part of a team or individually)?

What kind of sport(s) or exercise do you do?

Which of the following sports do you partake in?

How often do you do that or those sport(s)?

How often do you go to the gym?

Have you ever partaken in any kind of sport in the past that you no longer play?

Which sport(s) did you used to do when you were younger, but no longer do anymore?

At what age or ages did you quit that or those sports?

Why did you stop partaking in that or those sports?

Irrespective of the kind of sports you were doing – when do you feel most comfortable or have the most fun doing sport?

iReach Insights Limited – Temple Hall, Temple Road, Blackrock, CO. Dublin, IRELAND.

iReach Managing Director: Oisin Byrne
T: 01-214 3740 or email: PR@ireachhq.com