Should sports do more to help female athletes feel 'more comfortable' having children during career
You want to reach the top of your sport, but you also want to start a family.
It's a conundrum facing many sportswomen. Some British athletes, like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jo Pavey, have become mothers and then come back to compete at the very top.
But for some, it's a seemingly impossible situation.
As such, England netball captain Ama Agbeze has called upon sports' governing bodies to introduce specific maternity policies to enable female athletes to feel "more comfortable" having children during their career.
Agbeze, 36, wants to start a family with her husband but told BBC Sport taking time out of her career would be a "significant decision".
While she said it wasn't "taboo", she added that pregnancy was among "things that just don't get mentioned".
"If you're forewarned, you're forearmed," she said.
"Hopefully they will start putting procedures and policies in place so that from as soon as you get into a squad, this is what would happen if you got pregnant, this is the support you would get, this is the notice you'd have to give, if you wanted to return you could, you might get a statutory maternity leave.
"I do think there is potential for change. There need to be policies in place so it is set in stone what happens in the eventuality that you get pregnant."
UK Sport currently provides guidance to governing bodies which encourages them to manage pregnancies on a "case-by-case basis".
England Netball is funded by Sport England but told BBC Sport it would "refer" to UK Sport's guidance in the event of an athlete becoming pregnant.
It's a conundrum facing many sportswomen. Some British athletes, like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jo Pavey, have become mothers and then come back to compete at the very top.
But for some, it's a seemingly impossible situation.
As such, England netball captain Ama Agbeze has called upon sports' governing bodies to introduce specific maternity policies to enable female athletes to feel "more comfortable" having children during their career.
Agbeze, 36, wants to start a family with her husband but told BBC Sport taking time out of her career would be a "significant decision".
While she said it wasn't "taboo", she added that pregnancy was among "things that just don't get mentioned".
"If you're forewarned, you're forearmed," she said.
"Hopefully they will start putting procedures and policies in place so that from as soon as you get into a squad, this is what would happen if you got pregnant, this is the support you would get, this is the notice you'd have to give, if you wanted to return you could, you might get a statutory maternity leave.
"I do think there is potential for change. There need to be policies in place so it is set in stone what happens in the eventuality that you get pregnant."
UK Sport currently provides guidance to governing bodies which encourages them to manage pregnancies on a "case-by-case basis".
England Netball is funded by Sport England but told BBC Sport it would "refer" to UK Sport's guidance in the event of an athlete becoming pregnant.
Comments
Post a Comment