Overcoming Barriers to Sports Participation: Strategies for Rural Women in Wanli Area Jiangxi
Wenying Xiong, Guohua Zheng
This study aims to investigate the actual participation and influencing factors of rural women in sports activities in Wanli, Jiangxi Province. Despite the growing importance of sports for physical and mental health, the participation rate of rural women remains low due to cultural, social, and economic factors. This study conducts an in-depth analysis of the sports participation status of the respondents and analyzes the relationship between 12 factors including age, occupation, educational background, cultural factors, economic factors, and social factors of the survey sample with the level of sports participation. The study finds that rural women in Wanli, Jiangxi Province, exercise at least three times a week, accounting for only 14.2% of the total survey sample. This indicates that there are relatively few rural women in Wanli, Jiangxi Province, who participate in sports activities in their daily lives, and the development of large-scale sports activities in rural areas of Jiangxi Province is relatively lagging. Additionally, Pearson correlation analysis results indicate significant relationships at the 0.05 level between economic factors (EF-1, EF-2, and EF-3), social factors (SF-1, SF-2, SF-3), and sports participation. All correlation coefficients are greater than 0.18, indicating a significant positive correlation between these six factors and sports participation rates. Multiple linear regression analysis results show that cultural factors (CF1 and CF2), economic factors (EF2), social factors (SF1 and SF3), and age. The p-values of these six variables are all less than 0.05, indicating that these six variables affect the level of sports participation. Specifically, traditional gender roles in the community hinder women's participation in sports (CF-1); the family's attitude towards women's participation in sports affects their willingness to participate (CF-2). Unequal resource distribution increases the inequality of gender sports participation in rural areas (EF-2); positive descriptions of women in sports media encourage women to engage in sports activities (SF-1). Community initiatives at the grassroots level, such as accessible sports facilities and organized activities, encourage women to participate in sports (SF-2). The results indicate that rural women challenge conventional stereotypes through sports, enhance self-esteem, strengthen social ties, and ultimately promote the harmony and stability of rural communities. Finally, the paper forecasts the future development trends of rural women's sports participation, including expanding the scope of participation, increasing the level of participation, exploring long-term mechanisms, and sustainable development paths. With the deepening promotion of the national fitness strategy and technological progress, rural women's participation in sports will face more opportunities.
Keywords: Overcoming barriers to sports participation, Strategies for rural women, Jiangxi Wanli area
