As convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I am pleased to open this afternoon’s debate on female participation in sport and physical activity. On behalf of the committee, I thank everyone who engaged positively with our inquiry for their input and place on record the committee’s thanks to the clerks for their work.

I joined the committee as convener at a late stage in the inquiry, but I know that it was originally prompted by a key finding from the committee’s previous inquiry into the health and wellbeing of children and young people, which found a significant decline in the number of girls participating in sport and physical activity as they reached puberty. The current inquiry subsequently found evidence of a gender gap in the rates of participation that persists up to women in their early 40s.

We wanted to find out more about the reasons behind that worrying trend. The purpose was to identify key barriers to participation in sport and physical activity for females of all ages and to make recommendations for breaking down those barriers.

Teenage girls face particular barriers when taking part in sport and physical activity, both in and outside of school. A lack of understanding and awareness of menstrual health and negative attitudes among boys are important factors that contribute to the decline in girls’ participation from the age of adolescence. We need to improve learning and normalise discussions in school about the impact that menstruation can have on girls’ participation and to remove the stigma around managing periods. We must also do more to tackle misogynistic attitudes and foster mutual respect between boys and girls when they take part in sport and physical activity.

The committee heard about the positive impact that the active schools programme has had in broadening girls’ access to a wider range of sports and physical activities. However, the most recent full evaluation of active sports took place almost 10 years ago in 2014, and an updated evaluation of the programme is needed, with a particular focus on how it is helping girls to access the same range and quality of opportunities for sport and physical activity as boys.

Beyond school settings and teenage years, a lack of understanding, education and appropriate support creates barriers to the participation in sport and physical activity of women of all ages. It means that they lose out on the benefits of remaining physically active, with knock-on impacts on their long-term health.

Leadership is equally important in giving more women the confidence to be physically active. We need to do more to break down the barriers that prevent women from putting themselves forward for coaching, leadership and volunteering roles. That will create a virtuous circle in which the existence of more positive role models will encourage more women to participate at all levels. We also need to find solutions that will help to make it easier for women with childcare and other caring responsibilities to be able to participate regularly in sport and physical activity, including in leadership roles.

Sadly, the inquiry heard extensive evidence of girls and women being subjected to harassment and abuse while exercising. That is completely unacceptable. In sport and physical activity settings, we need to improve processes for receiving, handling and dealing with complaints to ensure that they are clear, transparent and easy to navigate. Too often, sport and active travel infrastructures and facilities are designed, constructed and maintained in a way that fails to take account of basic safety requirements for female users. Our report recommends encouraging the systematic use of feminist town planning to improve the safety of basic infrastructure, so that it is better suited to the needs of female participants.