Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Conclusion 2
Third Report - Health barriers for girls and women in sport
Published 5 Mar 2024
Paragraph 33
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Sexism and inequalities in sport All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Key anxieties for girls include concerns around periods, yet education on the menstrual cycle, despite being mandatory, is only being delivered in half of schools. It is shocking that around 50% of schools are disregarding a vital, and mandatory, element of the curriculum. Where it is being delivered, in most cases, it is part of a biology lesson and years after most girls will have started their period. As we have found in our other work, this is typical of current teaching on reproductive health, which is inadequate, irrelevant to girls’ needs, and delivered too late in girls’ development. These failings are having obvious consequences for girls’ confidence and, in terms of participation in and enjoyment of PE and sport, leading to withdrawal from necessary, healthy activity.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, Third Report - Health barriers for girls and women in sport (HC 130), paragraph 33, 5 March 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 May 2024 (deadline 7 May 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and states that it accepts "most of the report recommendations", partially accepting some, including those on RSHE education, the This Girl Can campaign and maternity policy.
- On menstrual cycle education (Recommendation 1), the Government "partially accepts" and says menstruation is already taught within statutory RSHE. The Department for Education is reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance and will release updated guidance "as soon as possible".
- On PE kit (Recommendation 2), the Government accepts the recommendation and says the Department for Education is "committed to continually reviewing" its school uniform and PE kit guidance.
- On the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, the Department for Education "does not accept" the part of Recommendation 3 on updating it with targets, as there are "no current plans" to do so. It points instead to non-statutory PE guidance published in March 2024.
- On integrity in sport (Recommendation 10), the Government accepts the recommendation and says it received over 600 responses to its call for evidence. It will set out the results and next steps "in due course".