Large numbers of girls dislike doing physical education at school because they hate wearing old-fashioned gym kit, are embarrassed by their bodies and see sport as intimidating, one of the most comprehensive reports on girls and schools sports is set to reveal.
The study also shows that many girls drop out of school sports lessons because they find them uncomfortable and unfashionable.
Health experts are now warning that the trend has profound health implications for women in later life because people who do not get into the habit of being physically active as teenagers usually take little or no exercise as adults, and run a much higher risk of obesity, heart disease, infertility and joint pains.
The findings of the survey, by the Institute of Youth Sport at Loughborough University, will be unveiled this week to the 250 delegates attending Let's Go Girls, the first conference in Britain on how to tackle young females' dislike of school games. The academics conducted research at 111 schools and among almost 11,000 girl pupils aged 11-16.
They found that 30 per cent of the girls surveyed did not like their PE kit, and 40 per cent were self-conscious about their bodies. One in five said they only took part in PE because they had to, 15 per cent did not enjoy it and 3 per cent rarely took part. One in five believed that being good at sport was not important for girls and that it was not 'cool' to display sporting prowess.
Worryingly, the researchers found that 30 per cent of girls did not think they would be physically active once they left school. They also discovered that girls become progressively more negative towards sport after the onset of puberty.
'Girls' lack of interest in sport seems to start when they are nine or ten,' said Nicola Bage, assistant head of PE at Sedgefield Community College in County Durham. 'I would guess as many as half our annual intake of girls from local junior schools every year are out of the habit of doing exercise by the time they come to us aged 11.
'Girls are already quite image- conscious by that age: there's pressure on the way they look, and they don't want to feel they are making fools of themselves. Boys are different. They just muck in and enjoy sport.'
The evidence of the scale of girls' hostility to PE was collected during an assessment of the Girls in Sport programme, which sportswear giant Nike and the Youth Sport Trust, the joint organisers of the conference, have been running since 2000 in a bid to end the gender gap among those doing sport at school.
However, the academics also found that girls' participation has risen steadily at schools which have made PE more female-friendly. Girls-only sports lessons, the introduction of aerobics, pilates and dance classes, and changing gym kit rules so girls can wear less revealing clothing such as tracksuit bottoms and hooded tops have boosted involvement.
At Sedgefield Community College, for example, 15 and 16-year-old girls no longer have to wear a skirt or shorts when doing PE. 'Changing our kit policy has really helped because as girls become older, they become more self-conscious', said Bage. 'They don't wear shorts or show off their legs very often. Previously they all had to wear shorts but now about three-quarters turn up in tracksuit bottoms. Final year pupils aged 16 can wear anything they want, such as vest tops or fitted t-shirts, and they now see sports sessions as an opportunity to show off their fashionable clothes.'
Since the school introduced the changes in 2001, the number of girls aged 11-14 doing extra-curricular sport has risen from 35 per cent to 75 per cent, the number of female sports teams it puts out has increased from four to 25, and the proportion of girls pleading sickness or injury to avoid PE has fallen.
