Last December, the Women’s Sports Foundation released a study, “Her Life Depends on It II: Sport, Physical Activity and the Health and Well-Being of American Girls and Women.” The project was an update on the major research on the health benefits of physical activity and sports for girls and women of all ages and on potential barriers to participation.

Just a few weeks ago, President Obama’s State of the Union address mentioned that First Lady Michelle Obama would be leading a White House initiative to address childhood obesity called Let’s Move, which is now under way. Though the issue of whether the nation faces an obesity epidemic remains debatable, findings from our report support the White House’s efforts to encourage girls and boys to eat more balanced diets and to become more physically active.

While this initiative has important health implications for boys and girls, we know that girls participate less and have less access to physical activities and sport opportunities. While more than 3 million girls participated in high school sports during the 2008 academic year, girls had access to 1.3 million fewer opportunities than high school boys. Evidence shows that steady growth in opportunities for girls in sport and physical activity during the 1990s slowed and even declined slightly in the early 2000s. More generally, there is a gender gap in physical activity, with about four in 10 boys exercising six to seven days per week compared to three in 10 girls, with this gap widening as children get older. Girls of color and girls from lower socioeconomic backgrounds generally participate less in athletics and fitness programs and suffer disproportionate health-related conditions later as a consequence. For example, they have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure.   

We are returning full circle to age-old recommendations. For centuries noted healers and philosophers have advocated for moderate and regular physical activity over a lifetime simply because it is good for the mind, body and soul. In 1859, the first female physician in the United States, Elizabeth Blackwell, wrote in “The Laws of Life, With Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls” that the first law was  exercise. Blackwell argued that to neglect the physical education of girls was to rob them of both happiness and a life well lived.  

We are arguably no longer bound by the sensibilities of the 1850s, but there remains more work to be done in addressing the needs of girls and women in sports and physical activity. With health care costs associated with treating preventable diseases rising, the growing consensus that more attention must be paid to encouraging children and adults to become more physically active is significantly influencing the public health agenda. It is estimated that 95 percent of health care costs are associated with spending on medical care and biomedical research. At the same time, experts suggest that behavior and environment account for more than 70 percent of untimely and unnecessary deaths. As of this writing, a National Physical Activity Plan set to launch in May has support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the surgeon general of the United States.

As this consensus builds, it is critical that we consider the many ways that physical activity and sports favorably influence the health and well-being of America’s girls and women. Getting more girls up and moving through exercise and sports, therefore, makes practical sense as a social and economic investment by the nation.

Ellen Staurowsky  is a professor and the graduate chair in the department of sport management and media. E-mail her at staurows@ithaca.edu.