Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Gender Equality - 
Healthy lifestyle - 
Personal developmentContext
Football in Hong Kong is perceived as a boys’ sport, and far fewer girls play than boys. For example, only 37 girls’ teams took part in the 2024/25 Inter-School Football Tournament, compared with 140 boys’ teams. This gender gap in participation is underscored by broader trends. More than 94% of Hong Kong pupils are not getting the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and girls are even less likely to meet this target than boys. Similarly, studies in other countries have found that drop-out rates can be up to twice as high among girls than boys.
The barriers girls face are both structural and social. Over 70% of women and girls surveyed by WISE in 2018 said that they encountered more challenges when playing sport than men and boys, giving examples such as stereotypes, negative self-perception and a lack of opportunities, resources and female role models. Studies around the world have also shown that a majority of girls avoid physical activity during their period, and this has been observed by teachers in Hong Kong.
The well-being implications of these trends are significant, and the 2024 Secondary School Students’ Well-Being Survey found poorer well-being among girls than boys. Sport can help to address this problem: evidence suggests that playing sport is associated with lower rates of mental health disorders among girls, and a greater sense of meaning, purpose and confidence.
Project goals
WISE aims to increase the number of girls playing football in Hong Kong. It will focus primarily on girls between the ages of 11 and 17 studying at local secondary schools.
The specific objectives of the project are to:
- provide a safe, positive, inclusive and supportive space where girls can play sport, learn new skills and expand their social networks;
- challenge stereotypes by getting more girls involved in football;
- use football to advocate for gender equality;
- narrow the gender gap in secondary school football in Hong Kong;
- nurture girls’ long-term interest in football;
- develop girls’ leadership skills through sport.
Project content
As part of this pilot programme, we aim to:
- establish four girls’ football teams, each at different schools.
- recruit approximately 15 pupils from each school to take part in training.
- deliver 72 coaching sessions during the semester and another 28 in preparation for matches. These matches might include round-robin tournaments involving all the participating schools and, potentially, competing in the Inter-School Football competition; and
- encourage discussion of issues relating to gender equality, body image, menstruation and other relevant topics.
Partners
