Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Sports policy makers often assume that sport may act as an arena for integration, citizenship, democracy, exchange of intercultural knowledge, and formation and consolidation of social networks. However, sports research has seldom confirmed this view; rather, the research often challenges these assumptions. This text aims to provide a better understanding of participation in sport among girls and young women with a minority background. specifically, we investigate the factors behind their participation (or lack thereof), their feelings about participating, and the ways in which participation in sport can lead to positive or negative life changes, not only in the sports context, but also in a wider societal sense.