Women and Sports Questions and Answers CBSE Class 12 Board Exams

1 Mark Questions

Answer : A girl’s first menstrual period is known as menarche. Girls may face stress and emotional tension during menarche. Menarche usually occurs between 9 or upto 15 years of age.

Answer : Most of the female could not participate in sports due to unaffordability. So participation fee should be reduced or abolished and concession for travelling and boarding should be provided to women.

Answer : Osteoporosis is a weakening of the bones due to the loss of bone density and improper bone formation.

This condition can ruin a female athlete’s career because it may lead to bone fractures and other injuries.

Causes of osteoporosis in women are as follows:

• Hormonal changes occurring during menopause may reduce bone density.
• Lack of calcium and vitamin D in diet.

3 Marks Questions

Answer : The following factors are responsible for less participation of women in sports.

i) Time Constraints : Women find less time for sports due to their domestic duties.

ii) Social Constraints : The attitude of society towards participation of women in sports is negative.

iii) Lack of Sports Infrastructure : Specialised coaching centres, training programmes, equipment that are suitable for women athletes are not present adequately.

iv) Absence of Skill : There are very few female coaches available to develop the skills of women. Sociological constraints limit the success of male coaches with female athletes.

v) Concern for Personal Safety : Women are more afraid to venture in a ‘male’ field (perceived) as they are concerned more about safety from harassment or exploitation.

Answer : The following steps should be taken to increase women’s participation in sports:

i) Coaching Programmes : During coaching, women should be encouraged and provided opportunity to undertake leaderships positions within organisations. Technical instruction should be provided to them. Flexible approach by the authorities is required for participation of women in sports.

ii) Safety : This is another factor that promotes girls’ participation in sports. Exercising in groups can make physical activity safer for women and girls.

iii) Facilities : Keeping in mind the hygienic needs of women and girls, separate changing facilities should be arranged for them. Childcare should be provided so that women can bring their children to the training or training venues without hesitation.

iv) Affordability : Participation fee in sports should be reduced or abolished for women. Concession for travelling and boarding should be provided to women.

Answer : Due to participation of women in physical fitness and competitive endurance sports, the incidence of menstrual dysfunction has increased. Long distance running and other sports may lead to alterations in androgen, estrogen and progesterone hormones, which in some women may directly or indirectly result in amenorrhea (absence of menstrual periods) or infertility.

Answer : The ‘female athlete triad’ is a syndrome of three related conditions generally seen in teenage or adult female athletes who aren’t meeting their energy requirements, which ultimately leaves them undernourished.

The three components of the female athlete triad include:

i) Disorder eating and anaemia (Energy deficits)

ii) Osteoporosis (Decreased bone density)

iii) Amenorrhea (Menstrual irregularities)

Answer : Amenorrhea refers to the absence of menstrual periods. The periods may have stopped, become irregular or never occurred. There are many reasons responsible for amenorrhea including extensive exercise and improper diet. exercising intensively and not consuming enough calories can lead to hormonal imbalances that result in a girl’s periods becoming irregular or stopping altogether.

5 Marks Questions

Answer : Five psychological traits of women athletes are:

i) Eager to Learn : In various conducted, it has been found that women tend to be more coachable and are always eager to learn new techniques.

ii) Stress : Women are able to handle stress in a better way. They have a large social support network which helps them to deal with stress.

iii) Coping : Women use emotion focused coping in reaction to stressors. This also affects their performance in a positive way.

iv) Aggression : Women are slightly less aggressive. Therefore they do not perform well in sports such as boxing, judo etc. However, recently women also are earning accolades in these sports.

v) Sensitive : Women are more sensitive to comments made on them. If they respond positively to these comments then it helps in enhancing their performance level.

Answer : In India most of the people believe that women cannot perform well in sports, and that they are good only for kitchen and cleaning duties. This line of thinking had led to the emergence of many sociological aspects related to women participation in sports.

These aspects are:

i) Safety and Issues : This is a major cause of concern, as parents do not allow girls to go to sports venues alone or return late after long hours of practice. Due to this, girls find it difficult to pursue their drams in sports.

ii) Social Stigma : Girls are discouraged from participating in sports on the basis of an ill-belief that they are weak and feeble as compared to men.

iii) Lack of Proper Facilities : Women have to face lack of specific facilities such as separate changing rooms, rest rooms etc. This leaves very few opportunities for women.

iv) Lack of Role Models : In India, only a few women sportspersons have been able to achieve such success which enables them to become role models. Because of this, parents do not encourage their girl child to pursue sports as a career.

v) Less Media Coverage : In India, the electronic and print media do not give wide coverage to women tournaments. This also acts as a deterring factor in encouraging women participation in sports.

Value Based Questions

Answer : i) Sunita was ridiculed by her brothers because she wanted to learn a sport that was dominated by males. This shows gender discrimination.

ii) The values shown by Sunita’s father are right judgement, good thinking and rationality.

Answer : i) The values taught are unity, coordination and understanding.

ii) By walking together, the girls have shown sportsperson spirit.

iii) The speciality of the race was the show of sportsperson spirit and understanding by all the competitors, so that there were no winners and no losers in the race. Such a kind of understanding is normally not observed during an athletic meet.