Actively Engaging Women and Girls: Addressing the Psychosocial Factors

“Actively Engaging Women and Girls: Addressing the Psycho-Social Factors” is a supplement to the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) foundation documents. The purpose of this resource is to increase awareness about the experiences of women and girls and provide recommendations to address the psycho-social factors that influence their athletic development, leadership and life-long participation in sport and physical activity.

As a catalyst for change, CS4L offers an opportunity to address the recognized shortcomings of the Canadian sport system. It is time to create optimal conditions and systems that support women and girls to be active at all stages of participation and competition, as coaches, officials, leaders and in other roles related to sport and physical activity.

Information in this resource will support national, provincial/territorial and community sport and physical activity organizations in enhancing their CS4L/LTAD implementation strategies. It will guide sport and physical activity leaders, coaches, educators and health promoters in developing and implementing quality programs and providing equitable support for women and girls as a priority. Parents and family members will find this resource helpful when making decisions about how to encourage and support the full and active participation of their daughters and female family members. 

Download the full resource.

Supplementary documents:

• Recommendations for Families and Caregivers (.pdf, 323 KB)
• Recommendations for Community Program Leaders and Coaches (.pdf, 323 KB)
• Recommendations for Educators and School Administrators (.pdf, 314 KB)
• Recommendations for High Performance Coaches and Leaders (.pdf, 315 KB)
• Recommendations for NSOs and P/TSOs (.pdf, 322 KB)
• Recommendations to Make Sport More Welcoming to Sexual and Gender Diversity
• FUNdamentals Stage Considerations for Women and Girls (.pdf, 303 KB)
• Learn to Train and Train to Train Stage Considerations for Women and Girls (.pdf, 301 KB)
• Train to Compete and Train to Win Considerations for Women and Girls (.pdf, 302 KB)
• Active for Life Stage Considerations for Women and Girls (.pdf, 302 KB)
• The “Three Rs” of Leadership Development for Women in Sport  (.pdf, 298 KB)
• Injury Prevention for Female Athletes Infographic (.pdf, 149 KB)