Female Soccer and Parenting in the Caribbean

Abstract

In the context of increasing concerns over health issues like obesity, as well as achieving gender equality, increasing interest has been shown in the factors that affect participation in sport in general and female participation in particular. Against this background, drawing on the expectancy value model of sport participation, the principal objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which the family, and parents in particular, have influenced the participation of their daughters in sport and the possible gendered nature of this process through modeling, interpreting experience, and providing experience. Methodologically, it is based on a qualitative case study of national soccer players (n=11) and their parents (n=11) from Trinidad and Tobago. The study generated three major related findings. First, it found little evidence of gender stereotypic beliefs among the parents of the players or their families, be they single parent or nuclear in nature, as they generally served as role models for their daughters and supported them both materially and nonmaterially in their participation in soccer from childhood to adulthood. Second, gendered-based sport socialization was experienced more by some parents when they were growing up than their daughters. Third, while mothers were generally as involved as fathers in their daughters’ football activities—in some cases, much more so—this involvement assumed a different form in several instances, as men tended to assume the role of coach (formally and informally), although their role was not limited to this.