University of Malaya

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION (SETTING THE STAGE) A woman has to be twice as good as a man to make it half as far. [Fanny Hurst] 1.1 Setting the Stage In this thesis, I will investigate girls’ and boys’ sports participation in Malaysia. The areas are gender typing in sports participation, the relationship between gender and stereotypes, perceptions and influences and the relationship between gender within ethnicities in relation to stereotyping, perception and influences. This thesis demonstrates the importance of gender by itself and in conjunction with ethnicities in understanding sports participation. Malaya The purpose of this thesis is to test theof theory of equality that relates to gender and ethnicity (these variables will be the independent variable in this research) to gender typing of sports and its relationship to stereotyping, perception and influences (the dependant variable) for boys and girls at urban schools in the Klang Valley. Independent variable is the variable that influences the values of the dependant variable and the dependant variable is the variable where the values are foretold by the independent variable (Collis & Hussey, 2009). University 1.2 Problem Statement The issue of equal participation of boys and girls in sports is an area of concern and a condition that needs to be improved. Traditionally, boys are expected to participate in sports and this is not expected of girls and therefore girls have not been provided with the 1 same opportunities for participation in sports as boys. It is a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory and in practice and much has been said about gender equity in sports as being tied to gender ideology and in how people think about masculinity and femininity. Sports has been always considered to be a unification factor for young children however the issue is whether participation of sports is influenced by less apparent relations to gender differences due to the various ethnicities interactions. Therefore, there is a need for a meaningful understanding of this problem towards addressing the issues of gender and ethnicity in sports participation. In my study the focus is on the gender typing of sports, people’s perception of gender stereotyping of sports, masculine and feminine values in sports participation and family and society’s influence in sports participation which are factors that may limit theMalaya development of equal participation of boys and girls from various ethnicities in sports.of 1.3 Research Background Traditionally, sports are popular among men (Duquin 1988). Duquin explained over a decade ago, being feminine is incompatible with the “sado-asceticism” of aggressive sports, which are designed to prepare boys and young men for the physical sacrifices of adult competition, particular war: “Females are expected to keep their sympathies and values off the sporting-field”. In our society, the types of traditional sports and games are sepakUniversity takraw, kite flying and top spinning. These were outdoor games. However, the women played indoor games such as congkak and batu seremban. There was very little development and variety in sports then. The reason for this was because before Independence in Malaysia, the people were financially disadvantaged, they were mainly 2 farmers and fishermen, and most times were taken up in harvesting and livelihood activities therefore there were no time for luxurious sports. In 1826 the British took over Melaka (from the Dutch), and ruled Penang and Singapore under the East India Company in Calcutta (Turnbull C.M., 2002). The British formed their own colony states of the Peninsula called the Straits Settlement and intervened with many previously independent states. In the late 19th Century, the British education system was introduced which included sports. Sports like football, rugby, cricket and hockey were introduced for boys and sports like hockey and netball for girls in schools. Since then sports permeate our everyday culture. In fact, the modern definition of culture will include sports (Moyo, 2008). Sports establish and provide a strong foundation in the development of early childhood. Today, in mostMalaya Malaysian schools, sports are not emphasised as strongly as compared to academic excellence. Although sports and physical education in school is compulsory there ofis a lack of female participation or even encouragement in games like rugby, football or sepak takraw. The Malaysian School Sports Council (MSSM) runs 24 sports championship in a year, however, at the time of this thesis; the above mentioned games are not open to females. Sports are important especially in schools where physical education is included as a subject as this will allow students to benefit on an overall wellbeing (Sallis et al., 2012). In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, this has taken place through implementationUniversity of policies and legislations. In Australia, “Gender Equity in School Sports” is a policy adopted by the Department of Education in Queensland and it is incorporated in the Department of Education Manual and “The Women and Sports Policy” presents a large area of interest for The Australian Sports Commission.Further, under the Australian Constitution, Education falls within the state jurisdiction therefore each state 3 would have its own policies and legislations (Equity considerations for the development of curriculum and test materials, 2001). Therefore, it is important for physical education teachers to motivate all students equally to participate in sports as this will motivate boys and girls to participate in types of physical activity (Ning, Pope, & Gao,2015), however in Malaysia, the National Sports Council and the Malaysian School Sports Council has to come up with policies and objectives to facilitate greater access and participation of both boys and girls in sports. Studies have been undertaken in Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Zanzibar in relation to Muslim women and sports (Walseth & Fasting (2003); Soubhi A.M (1977); Pfister G., K., Fasting, S. Scraton, & B. Vazquez (2002). In these researches it has been found that football may not necessarily represent the cultural value.Malaya In fact, this could be seen as a challenge to the cultural values of that society. of 1.4 Research Design Vogt (1993) stated that research design is the “science and art of planning procedure for conducting studies so as to get the most valid findings”. Prior to the construction of research design, the research paradigm has to be ascertained (see chapter 3). This is crucial as it will give important implication to the choice of methodology and methods for collecting data. This also gives inference to the research problem and research questions. Therefore,University the first step in a research design is to identify a research problem or issue (as discussed above). In a positivist study, a theoretical framework has to be developed that will lead to hypothesis. 4 1.5 Research Question and Research Hypothesis The research question or hypotheses expands on the general direction of the study (purpose statement) by providing details. This is crucial to the research. It has been suggested that a good research question for a positivistic study should express a relationship between variables, should be stated in unambiguous terms in question form and should imply the possibility of empirical testing (Kerlinger, 1986). From a positivist’s perspective, it is recommended that the research questions are followed by hypothesis (Black, 1993). RQ 1: Are there gender differences in students engaged in gender typing of sports? No hypothesis required Malaya RQ 2: Do the various ethnicities associate differently in the practice of gender typing of the sports? of Hyphothesis 1 There is a significant association in the response of various ethnic groups regarding gender typing of sport. RQ 3: Does gender influence students view of people’s perception of gender stereotyping and its impact in sports participation? HypothesisUniversity 2 There is a significant difference in male and female’s view of people’s perception of stereotyping and its impact on sports participation. 5 RQ 4: Does gender influence students’ perception of masculine and feminine values in sports participation? Hypothesis 3: There is a significant difference in male and female’s view of overall student’s perception of masculine and feminine values in sports participation. RQ 5: Does gender impact on family and society’s influence in sports participation? Hypothesis 4: There is a significant difference in male and female’s view of family and society’s influence on sports participation Malaya RQ 6: Does ethnicity influence students’ view of people’s perception of gender stereotyping and its impact in sports participation?of Hypothesis 5: There is a significant difference in Malays, Chinese and Indian view of people’s perception of stereotyping and its impact on sports participation. RQ 7: Does ethnicity influence students’ perception of masculine and feminine values in sports participation? HypothesisUniversity 6: There is a significant difference in Malays, Chinese and Indian view of overall student’s perception of masculine and feminine values in sports participation. 6 RQ 8: Does ethnicity impact on family and society’s influence in sports participation? Hypothesis 7: There is a significance difference in Malay, Chinese and Indian view of family and society’s influence on sports participation. RQ 9: Is there a relationship between gender within different

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