Socio-cultural determinants of female students’ participation in school sports in Kogi State, Nigeria

Received Jun 11, 2020 Revised Apr 6, 2021 Accepted May 16, 2021 The decline in female participation in school sports is undesirable because of the fact that it is considered to be for boys only. It is in light of this, the study was carried out to examine socio-cultural determinants of female students’ participation in school sports in Kogi State, Nigeria. The population was 3,290 female students while 310 respondents were sampled for this study. Three hypotheses were postulated and tested using inferential statistics of Chi-square to analyze the data. Questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The findings show that gender, cultural and religious belief served as a significant determinant of female participation in sports. Based on the finding, it was concluded that both male and female students should be encouraged to develop right attitude towards sports participation in schools so as to enhance gender equality in sports. There is need to sensitize the general public through various agents of socialization on how to change the negative cultural belief of people towards female participation in sports.


INTRODUCTION
Sports are a structured and institutionalized activity that involves vigorous physical exertion which has the components of competition and prowess on a continuum between play and work [1] sports have the ability to create physical, scholarly, social and good elements of life in every one of the landmasses. It also serves as a medium of communication between nations and people through their level of participation in sports over the years, it was observed that participating in sports helps to bridge the social holes, resolve struggle and instruct individuals so that people engage in its for relaxation [2]. Sports becomes a significant part of the Nigerian culture and as such the ubiquity of partaking in sports has influenced political, social, financial and instructive arrangement of the country.
However, effective participation in sports could be largely beneficial to the physical, mental and social well-being of an individual [3]. Generally, the auxiliary school educational plan in Nigeria focuses on the significance of the absolute turn of events of an individual especially at the developmental stages of adolescence [4]. Consequently, the secondary school students in Nigeria are exposed to diverse experiences in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learning [5]. Both males and females in secondary schools often engage themselves in various sporting activities of their choice in order to develop their motor skills and general well-being. Apart from the facts that participating in sports is beneficial to all-round development of female students, it is also enhances unity among schools in the communities [6] participating in sports helps to transcend cultural differences and unite people and above all it arouses the interest of 313 secondary school students, especially the females who participate in sports without yielding to their parents advise not to engage in school sports competitions [7]. In view of the benefits of sports to humans, sports participation at secondary school level is a unique way of bringing school children of different cultural backgrounds, gender, ages and religions together [8]. Female students who partake in sports, diversion and proactive tasks are by and large better, more sure and feel better compared to the individuals who don't [9]. The growing contribution of sports to the realization of cultural beliefs of a community on female participation in sports is increasing on daily basis through school sports programs [10]. The rise of ladies in sports is to a great extent a 20th century wonders. In spite of the fact that there are no laws, which express that ladies ought not occupied with wearing exercises yet there are cultural assumptions which obstruct them from doing as such. These cultural convictions are sufficiently able to keep ladies from wandering into zones accepted to be for men as it were [11]. In a study conducted by [12], it was found out that culture and custom, age, religion and guardians are socio-social factors that impact male and female support in sports. Culture is an indispensable component of human behaviour. In other words, the cultural extractions of an individual are a cardinal determinant of the way he or she responds and acts in life [13]. Female students belong to a specific cultural extraction that plays a significant role in their daily existence, for example, specific indices of culture such as religious belief, societal norms could either make the decision and willingness to motivate female students at secondary schools to participate in sports [14]. Furthermore, cultural beliefs of the society may not predispose women in the society to openly participate in sporting activities, for instance, the Nigerian culture encourages the training of young girls to be mothers in the home while young men are encouraged to participate in outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. Consequently, the cultural demands on women in Nigeria discourage them from participating in competitive sports [15]. The negative attitude of female students towards sports participation in the Northern part of the country is because of the apparent or real limitation set on them by their cultural beliefs [16]. There are existing social develops of manliness or socially acknowledged methods of communicating being a man or lady in a specific socio-social setting. Participating in sports helps to increment confidence by giving females the chances to master new abilities. As opposed to the assumption for sports for all, sex requirements make most female understudies to encounter job struggle and this is reflected in the disposition of the overall population with respect to female interest in sports which also plays a key role in determining their level of participation in sports [17]. Religious and cultural beliefs make it difficult for females to participate in sports as people often lack sensitivity or understanding of the requirements for mode of dressing in sports [18]. There are aspects of religion that influence female participation in sports for example, female often follow their faith by not engaging in mixed gender sports and other sports that often expose their body such as swimming, athletics because of dress code [19].
Some religions frown at female participation in sports but in other religions like Islam and Christianity females are encouraged to participate fully in sports. However, Muslim women are generally restricted from wearing shorts skirts, trunk top, shirts and trousers in public places in line with the sharia law which takes precedence over the conduct of lives of many females in Nigeria, especially in the northern states [20]. It is deducible from these findings that Islam encourages the participation of females in sports, but in practice, it places some restrictions on the form of environment and dress code that females wear to participate in mixed sports. The low level of female involvement in sports may not be attributed to their lack of interest in sports but it may be attributed to long history of immediate and circuitous fundamental types of segregation and sound system composing just as numerous different issues that ladies need to battle with [21]. Sex influences everyone in various manners for example, it is seen that sex generalizations add to young ladies exiting sports cooperation just on the grounds that ladies in sports are frequently seen as being non-female; they are normally named as lesbians paying little heed to their sexuality personality [22]. The disadvantaged roles of Nigerian women involvement in competitive sports is far below expectation. Separation that depends on sex and sexual character frequently influences the principal respectability of sports and it is regularly connected with other trustworthiness issues like viciousness, provocation and abuses. Students at the secondary school level can either be males or females thus, there is need to examine their level of performance in sports based on gender [23], [24].
Gender is a state of being male or female, most female students in private secondary schools are usually encouraged to participate in sports due to the availability of sports facilities while their counterparts in public schools are not encouraged because of poor state of sports facilities [25]. Sex based savagery against ladies support in sports is a term that extensively joins numerous practices that show as physical and sexual or mental harm to ladies or young ladies which is an infringement to their common freedom and also discourages them from participating in sports. This idea of gender disparity is usually in schools, especially during Physical Education periods where boys are encouraged to participate in sports like hockey, rugby, football and other strenuous activities while girls are supported to play sports like gymnastics and other  [26], [27] observed that females have commonly been overlooked in numerous occupations remembering cooperation for sports. They further revealed that cultural barriers have significant influence on female participation in sports especially in the rural communities.
Sporting activities are generally designed and integrated into the Nigerian secondary school system in order to facilitate the wellbeing of the students irrespective of their gender. However, it is worrisome to note that female interest in sports at the optional school level in the study area is very low compared to their male counterparts due to the cultural belief that females should not be actively involved in sports [28]- [30]. The researcher observed that both religion and socio-cultural belief are some of the factors militating against female participation in sports. This is because some religions frown at female participation in sports because they believe that females are meant to take good care of the home. Also, the socio-cultural beliefs of female participating in sports place some term of restriction on the social interaction with their male counterpart during competitive sports likewise, parents of these young girls usually engage them in business related activities instead of allowing them to participate in sports after the school hours. Consequently, the low level of female student's participation in sports has caused some inimical health conditions such as obesity and leaving a sedentary lifestyle due to low level of their involvement in physical activity. Some female students don't like to get involved in schools sports program simply because of dress code which sometimes exposes their bodies. The performance of female students during intramural sports is always poor due to cultural dispositions.
However, previous studies [15], [19]- [21], [14] had carried out number of related studies on factors that hinder female participation in sports both within and outside Nigeria, but none of these studies focused on socio-cultural determinants of female students' participation in sports in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria. The objective of the study was specifically meant to: 1) Examine the extent to which gender disparity served as a determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria; 2) Investigate the rate at which cultural belief served as a determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria; 3) Ascertain the significant determinant of religious belief on female students' participation in sports among schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria.
The accompanying theories were proposed and tested for the investigation: 1) Gender will not be a significant determinant of female students'participation in sports among secondary school in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria; 2) Cultural belief will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria; 3) Religious belief will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria.

RESEARCH METHOD
The enlightening examination plan of the review type was used. This design was considered appropriate due to its advantages to describe the existing phenomenon in relation to the variables being studied. The populace for this investigation involved each of the 3,290 female understudies in secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria. A sample of 310 respondents that represent 10% of the total population were selected for the study through the multi-stage sampling procedures. In the first stage, 10 secondary schools were randomly selected out of 30 registered schools in the study area. This method was used to give all the schools equal chance of being selected. In stage two, the proportionate sampling technique was used to select 10% of the respondents in secondary schools which was proportionate to the population size of each school sampled in the study area. Stage three, 31 respondents that represents 10% of the population in each school were randomly selected.
A researcher-designed questionnaire titled: socio-cultural determinants of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria which was prepared on four (4) point rating scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Strongly Disagree (SD) and Disagree (D) were used for scoring. Validity often indicates the degree to which an instrument measures what is supposed to measure. The instrument was validated by two experts in the Department of Human Kinetics Education and two Social Studies experts in the Department of Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Reliability is the extent to which repeated administration of data of a measuring instrument gives similar responses. It is stability or the consistence of information for the same group of persons when the quality (instrument) being measured has not changed. To decide the dependability of the instrument, the researcher adopted the test re-test method whereby 20 duplicates of the poll were controlled on a group twice at an interval of two weeks. The results obtained from the two tests were correlated using the Pearson's Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Correlation Co-efficient of 0.78r was obtained which was considered high enough for the study. The researchers with the help of three trained research assistants administered the questionnaires to the respondents. All the filled copies of the questionnaire were retrieved back by the researchers for data analysis. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis of inferential statistics of Chi-square (x 2 ) which was used to test the stated hypotheses set for the study at 0.05 alpha level using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Hypothesis 1:
Gender will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria. As shown in Table 1, the calculated x2 value of 90.03 also, the table estimation of 16.92 with level of opportunity at 0.05 alpha level. Since the determined x2 esteem is more noteworthy than the table value,hence the invalid speculation that stated that gender will not be a significant determinant of female participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State Nigeria was hereby rejected. This implies that gender served as a significant determinant of female participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo Kogi State, Nigeria.

Hypothesis 2:
Cultural belief will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria. Table 2 shows the determined x2 estimation of 85.82 and table estimation of 16.92 with level of opportunity at 0.05 alpha level. Since the determined worth x2 esteem is more prominent than the table worth, thus the invalid theory that stated that cultural belief will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria was hereby rejected. This means that cultural belief served as a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo, Kogi State, Nigeria.

Hypothesis 3:
Religious belief will not be a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo,Kogi State, Nigeria. Table 3 demonstrates the determined x2 estimation of 66.60 and table estimation of 16.92 with a level of opportunity at 0.05 alpha level since the determined x2 esteem is more noteworthy than the table worth, consequently the invalid theory that state that cultural belief will not be a significant determinant of female students participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo,Kogi State, Nigeria was hereby rejected. This implies that religious beliefs serve as a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in Ogori-Mangongo Local government Area, Kogi State, Nigeria.

DISCUSSION
The finding from table one revealed that gender served as a significant determinant of female understudies' interest in sports among auxiliary schools in the investigation area. This result supported the findings of Olumba [22] who affirmed that sex generalizations add to young ladies exiting sports support basically in light of the fact that ladies in sports are regularly seen as being non-ladylike and they are also labeled as lesbians regardless of their sexuality identity. Similarly, Alabi, Olorundare, Bello and Abimbola [24] submitted that segregation that depends on sex and sexual personality regularly influences the key trustworthiness of female participation in sports at all levels.
The findings from table two indicated that cultural belief served as a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in the study area. This result buttressed the findings of Sani [15] who stressed that the cultural belief demands on women in Nigeria often discourages them from participating in competitive sports. The negative attitude of female students towards sports participation in the northern part of the country is because of perceived or real restrictions put on them by their societies [16]. Also, the study conducted by Alairu [14] opined that cultural belief of the society may not predisposed women in the society to openly participate in sporting activities, for instance, the Nigeria culture encouraged the training of young girls to be mother in the home while men are encouraged to participate in outdoor activities like hunting and fishing.
The finding from table three shows that religious belief served as a significant determinant of female students' participation in sports among secondary schools in the study area. This result tallied with the view of Lina and Astrid [19] that suggested it that some religions frown at female participation in sports but in other religions like Islam and Christianity females are encouraged to participate in sports fully. However, Muslim women are generally restricted from wearing short skirts, trunk top, shirts and trousers in public places in line with the Sharia law which take precedence over other conduct of the lives of many females in the north. In the same vein, Adeyanju [20] submitted that religion is one of the hindrances that discourage female students from participating in sports because they can easily be exposed to promiscuous acts. It is deducible from these findings that Islam is a religion that encourages female participation in sports but in practice it also places some restrictions on the form of environment and dress code that females wear to participate in mixed sports. In light of the discoveries of the investigation deduced from the data collected and analyzed, it was concluded that female students should be encouraged to participate in school sports programme irrespective of their socio-cultural background. The sports officers in school should always try to modify the sporting activities in a way that would motivate female students to participate in sports so as to reduce gender disparity. Religious leaders need to encourage female to participate in sports because of its benefits.