Women in sport: 'More sportswomen on TV will encourage girls to be more active'

Four in five girls think that seeing more sportswomen in the media will help encourage girls to be more active, according to research by the Brownies and Guides organisation Girlguiding.

It carried out a survey of 2,000 girls and young women in the UK, and asked for their thoughts about equality in sports and the media.

The research showed that half of women and girls think that the lack of women's football shown on television makes it seem less important than men's football.

Two-thirds of young women aged 17 to 21 also thought that having less women's sport on television sends out the message that sport is more for men that it is for women.

The results of Girlguiding's research comes just ahead of the start of the 2019 World Cup, which starts on Friday.

Alex Greenwood, left-back for the Lionesses, said: "We know how important it is for more women and girls to enjoy and embrace sport, and increased TV coverage and media coverage overall is crucial to that."

"If a seven-year-old picks up a football this summer because of seeing us on TV then we have done our job."

Both boys and girls need to exercise and play sport the same amount to keep fit and healthy.

But figures from Sport England show that there is a gender gap with how regularly boys and girls exercise.

While one in five of boys are active for 60 minutes or more every day, only around one in seven girls are.

We want to know what you think about this?

Do you believe that there is equal representation of sportswomen on television? How do you feel about sport when you see other genders playing sport on television?

Let us know in the comments below.