In recent years the importance of sports organizations in integrating ethnic
minorities has become of greater interest. Despite of this the existing
research among ethnic minorities has mainly consisted of quantitative
studies to determine how many as well as how much time they spend on
physical activity and sports organizations. These studies show that people
from ethnic minorities are less physical active and their participation in
sports organizations is lower. However, any significant variances among
boys and men from ethnic minorities are not seen when compared to the
majority, hence the differences in sports participation are to be found
among girls and women.
Studies in sports organizations which clarify the perspectives of ethnic
minority girls have been limited. As such, the aim of this study was to
qualitatively examine the underlying reasons which ethnic minority girls
describe for either their participation or absence in Danish sports organizations.
To investigate this I conducted four focus group interviews including
twelve girls with ethnic minority background. These focus groups
represent both ethnic minority girls who are members of a sports organization
and ethnic minority girls who are absent from sports organizations.
On the basis of these interviews I found that the promotive aspects for
participation in sports organization could lead to a sense of community.
Furthermore, a feeling of recognition and acceptance of cultural and religious
values inside the community had importance along with meeting
new friends. This also included ethnic minority girls who are absent in
sports organization who felt that sports organizations could give them an
opportunity to meet with new friends from the majority. Parental support
towards physical activity and sports organizations were also valuable for
ethnic minority girls who also experienced an expansion of their network
after coming into the sports organization.
The limiting aspects expressed in this study were mainly education, including
time spent and prioritisation on education and also the importance
of education from their parents’ point of view. Furthermore, the lack of
network of friends and family to introduce ethnic minority girls seemed a
barrier and also the lack of friends inside sports organizations. In addition,
sport organizations were seen as expensive and the flexibility of
these compared with ethnic minority girls schedule were seen as a disadvantage
compared to commercial sports organizations.
Finally, it was clear from the interviews that ethnic minority girls across
both groups had interest in both physical activity and participation in
sport organizations. This leads to reflection of what opportunities and offers
ethnic minority girls are offered in relation to sports organizations
and how they meet ethnic minority girls’ demands.