The bar chart illustrates the participation percentages of boys and girls in nine different sports in New Zealand during 2002. Overall, it is clear that there were distinct preferences between genders, with netball and soccer dominating for girls and boys respectively.
Regarding girls, netball was by far the most popular activity, accounting for 25% of participation, followed by swimming at 22%. In contrast, girls showed minimal interest in cricket and martial arts, with figures standing at just 0.5% and 3% respectively. Athletics and soccer also saw relatively low engagement from girls, at 4% and 5%.
Conversely, boys showed a strong preference for soccer, which attracted 24% of participants, followed by 'other' sports at 18% and swimming at 13%. Cricket was notably more popular among boys than girls, reaching 10%, whereas netball was almost exclusively a female-dominated sport. Martial arts and tennis were also more favoured by boys, at 9% and 8% respectively. While swimming remained a popular choice for both genders, the overall data highlights a clear divergence in sporting interests between boys and girls in New Zealand in 2002.