The aim of this paper was to investigate the perceived roles of female athletes in Hong Kong. A questionnaire on the perceived roles of female athletes in society was utilised. The participants were 82 females ranging in age from 10 years to 56 years (M= 23.24, SD= 11.84). They were divided into two age groups (aged 20 and below, n = 30, aged 21 and above, n = 52). According to membership of a Hong Kong National Sport team, they were divided into two groups (HK team n= 39, non-HK team n= 43). Descriptive statistics reported that the top five most important perceived roles of female athletes were as follows:

2 x 2 ANOVAs revealed that Hong Kong team members perceived the role “to assist the promotion of social campaigns such as keeping HK clean campaign, environmental protection” more important than the non- HK team members. Females aged 20 and below perceived that to promote Hong Kong and to advocate Olympism were more important than those aged 21 and above. 75 % and 74.3% of these age groups agreed that male and female athletes have equal opportunities for sport competitions and training in HK, respectively.

Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city in the Asia Pacific region with a dense population. According to Hong Kong in Figures 2008, there were 6.9 million people living in 1104.3 square kilometers in 2007. The percentage of males to females is 47.5 to 52.7. Hong Kong is considered the melting point of the East and the West as from 1898 it had been the British colony, until being returned to her mother-land as a Special Administration Region of China in 1997.

Despite the male dominant Chinese culture, the Hong Kong Government continuously and firmly promotes equal opportunities for all. The Sex Discrimination Ordinance was enacted in July, 1995 and the Equal Opportunities Commission was established in 1996. The Ordinance and the Commission promote and protect equal opportunities for females (The rights of the individuals - The Equal Opportunities Commission (n.d.), the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (n.d.)). Leung and Fung (2006) stated that the development of sport for women meets the principles of the Brighton Declaration (1994). Females have been given equal opportunities to receive education and participate in sport and physical activities in Hong Kong.

The first time that female athletes participated in the Asian Games and the Olympic Games was in 1958 and 1952 respectively (Leung and Fung, 2006). Percentage of female athletes participating in the Asian Games and the Olympic Games are listed in table 1 and table 2 respectively. The percentages of females participation at the Asian Games ranged from 23.5 to 33.9, while the percentage for the Olympic Games ranged from 20.4 to 56.3 (Leung and Fung, 2006, Sport Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. (n.d.)). In addition, it is exciting to note that the percentages of female athletes from Hong Kong at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics reached 50% and above. Female athletes have unique influences on Hong Kong the sports system and society. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the perceived roles of female athletes and sexual equality in Hong Kong.

Table 1: Participation of Hong Kong Female Athletes in the Asian Games from 1982 – 2006

Table 2: Participation of Hong Kong Female Athletes in the Olympic Games from 1988 – 2008

Participants
The participants were 82 females from universities, a women social centre and Hong Kong sports teams. Their age range was from 10 years to56 years (M= 23.24, SD= 11.84). They were divided into two age groups (aged 20 and below n = 30, aged 21 and above n = 52). According to membership of the Hong Kong team, they were divided into two groups (HK team n = 39, non-HK team n = 43). Hong Kong sports team members were from the badminton, fencing, gymnastics, rowing and wushu. The years of training ranged from 1 year to 20 years (M= 7.69, SD= 4.93).

Procedure
The surveys were conducted in August, 2008. The role of female athletes was defined as “the function of female athletes ”in our society (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1996). A questionnaire on the perceived roles of female athletes in society was utilised. The questionnaire consisted of four sections. The first section included 20 items on the perceived roles of female athletes in society with a 7-point Likert scale ranging from the most important to the least important. The higher scores indicated the higher level of importance. The second section investigated whether the opportunities for training and competitions for male and female athletes were equal. The third section was divided into two: for the HK team members, their opinions on level of support and roles of female athletes were asked, while for the non-HK team participants, they were requested to list their favourite female athletes or athletes and the reasons. The last section was demographic information. The SPSS version 15 was utilised to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics and 2 (age group) X 2 (HK team membership) Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) were conducted.

Perceived roles
The top five most important perceived roles of female athletes were:

The perceived roles of Hong Kong female athletes are listed in Table 3.

3: Perceived Roles of Hong Kong Female Athletes (n =82)

The results of 2 (age group) x 2 (HK team membership) ANOVAs on the 20 perceived roles revealed that there was no significant interaction effect. For the main effect, there was significant mean difference on item number 3 “ to assist the promotion of social campaigns (e.g. the keep HK clean campaign, environmental protection)” for sports team membership. Hong Kong team members perceived this item more important than the non-HK team members. Moreover, there were significant mean differences on item 10 and 14 for females of different age groups. Participants aged 20 and below perceived that to promote Hong Kong and to advocate Olympism were more important than those aged 21 and above. Details are listed in Tables 4, 5 and 6. Participants also commented that “the role of female athlete is very important, especially when she becomes a mother” and “I wish all female athletes would work hard together and contribute to HK”.

Table 4: 2X2 ANOVA of Perceived Roles of Female athletes

Table 5: Mean and Standard Deviation for Perceived Roles of Female Athletes by Membership of Sports Team.

Table 6: Means and Standard Deviations for Perceived Roles of Female Athletes by Age Group.

Sexual equality
The means and standard deviations on the sexual equality questions are listed in Table 7. 75% of participants agreed that male and female athletes had equal opportunities for sports competitions in HK(a bit agree=7.8%, agree= 56.3%, strongly agree=10.9%). 75.7% of the participants agreed that male and female athletes had equal opportunities for sports trainings in HK (a bit agree=9%, agree= 56.4%, strongly agree=10.3%). In addition, 74.3 % of the participants viewed that male and female athletes were treated equally in HK (a bit agree=17.9%, agree= 47.4%, strongly agree=9%).

The result of 2 (age group) x 2 (HK team membership) ANOVAs on sexual equality showed no significant mean difference on both the main effects and interaction effect. Furthermore, participants stated that “it is happy that female and male athletes are fairly treated in HK” and “the support for female athletes is great”.

Table 7: Perception on Sexual Equality of Hong Kong Female Athletes (N=78)

Favourite female athletes
Twenty-two participants listed the name of their favourite female athletes and 15 of them (68%) selected Ms. Lee Lai Shan. Ms. Lee won the windsurfing gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in1996, and this is Hong Kong’s first and only Olympic gold medal to date. Other reasons for selecting a particular female athlete were as follows: 1. “She won the gold medal” (32%), 2. “ She is hard working, has courage, is determined and has goals, a positive role model, humble, good attitude”(30%), 3. “She has excellent performance, is good at sport, and is successful”(17%), 4. “She is young, beautiful and happy” (15%) and 5. “She is a mother and raises a child”(6%)

Purves (2006) pointed out that in order to be successful in marathon, perseverance, discipline, dedication and enjoyment of running were required for female runners. In the present study, the most important perceived roles of female athletes is to promote the spirit of being a strong person, having courage and not giving up during failure. These qualities are essential for success in either sport or life.

Secondly, the physical and mental health benefits of physical activities are well documented in the Surgeon General’s Report (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Hong Kong Department of Health (n.d.) also supports the proven benefits of regular physical exercise. Department of Health (2008) reported that the childhood obesity rate in Hong Kong increased from 19.4% in 2005-2006 to 20.2% in 2006-2007. The main factors are unhealthy eating habits and inadequate exercise, which are closely related to the lifestyle of individuals.

The Hong Kong Sports Development Board (HKSDB) (2001) reported that an average of 65% of children aged 5 -14 participated in at least one physical activity in 2001. The level of physical activities decreased as people became older. This showed that more should be done in order to encourage HK residents to participate in sport and physical activities. Female athletes would play a significant role to promote health and physical activities in society.

In addition, the Hong Kong Sports Development Board (HKSDB) (2001) also reported that the participation rate for boys and girls was 68% and 63% respectively and that the participation rate for men (53%) was significantly higher than women (43%). Female athletes with positive images and role models would be able to encourage more females to participate in physical activities and sport.

Furthermore, the other perceived role of female athletes was to promote sexual equality and it is great to know that over 70% of females in Hong Kong agreed that they were treated equally in sports competitions and training. With the influences and effects of the Beijing Olympics, it is likely that Hong Kong’s sporting population, especially for females, will continue to grow. Further researches on female athletes should be conducted. Lastly, policymakers, administrators, community leaders and commercial operators should make the necessary investments in the sports community to foster its further development.