Gender and Social Equity in Physical Education

Physical education (PE) occupies a pivotal role in shaping young people’s attitudes to physical activity, self‐efficacy and social belonging. Despite widespread recognition of its pedagogical value, patterns of participation and engagement often reflect entrenched gender norms and broader social inequalities. Historically, PE curricula have privileged sporting performance and traditional conceptions of athleticism, reinforcing binary gender stereotypes and marginalising students whose identities or abilities fall outside dominant norms. Recent scholarship has emphasised the need to reconceptualise PE as an inclusive space that actively challenges social hierarchies and promotes equity. This involves critical teacher training to spot unconscious bias, the design of coeducational activities that deconstruct gendered assumptions, and the adaptation of rules and environments to accommodate diverse cultural and socio‐economic backgrounds. Intersectional approaches now underline how gender intersects with ethnicity, class, religion, refugee status and disability to shape students’ experiences of inclusion or exclusion. Practical interventions range from adapted rule sets in team sports to reflective pedagogies that foreground student voice. At policy level, there is a growing call for frameworks that mandate equitable access, monitor participation data by gender and other social categories, and support school communities in fostering respectful and empowering PE environments.

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Gender and Social Equity in Physical Education publication trend

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Technical terms

Intersectionality: A framework for analysing how multiple social identities (such as gender, race, class and religion) intersect to produce unique experiences of privilege or marginalisation.

Socioecological framework: A model that considers influences on behaviour across individual, interpersonal, organisational, community and policy levels.

Gender stereotyping: The attribution of specific roles, behaviours or attributes to individuals based solely on perceived gender norms.

Coeducation: An approach to teaching in which students of all genders participate together under the same curriculum and pedagogical conditions.

References

1. Advancing Gender Equality in Schools through Inclusive Physical Education and Teaching Training: A Systematic Review. Societies (2023).
2. “Girls Aren’t Meant to Exercise”: Perceived Influences on Physical Activity among Adolescent Girls—The HERizon Project. Children (2021).
3. Social inclusion in multi-ethnic physical education classes: Contextualized understandings of how social relations influence female students’ experiences of inclusion and exclusion. European Physical Education Review (2020).