sports and athletics, especially at the high school level,
was strongly correlated with achievements later in life.
ANDRES S TAPFF/REUTERS;EVARIS TO SA/AFP/GE T T Y
“[Participation in school sports] explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and some 40
percent of the rise in employment for women between the
ages of 25 and 40,” the study concluded. According to Stevenson,
“It is not just that people who
are going to do well in life play
sports, but that sports help people do better in life. While I only
show this for girls, it is reasonable to believe this is true for
boys as well.” 2
Similar studies have not been
conducted in Latin America
and the Caribbean, but there is
plenty of anecdotal evidence to
show that women athletes are
achieving success off the play-
ing field as well. Among other
notable examples, Argentina’s
Gabriela Sabatini went from an
extraordinary career in tennis
to become a fashion entrepreneur and an icon for pro-
fessional women. Cecilia Tait, the three-time Olympic
volleyball star, became an influential politician and con-
gresswoman in Peru. She left her post in 2006 for personal
reasons and was re-elected this year. Such
women have become inspiring exam-
ples. You need only look at the number of
women playing, running or competing in
public parks, fields, streets, and gyms in
Latin America to know that females are
participating in sports and physical fit-
ness programs at increasing levels—prob-
ably at levels never seen before.
The lower level
of support for
women athletes
illustrates how
far the region
needs to go
to overcome
gender
disparity.
