Sport England release practical guide to close gender fitness gap

Sport England has released an interactive guide, Helping Women and Girls to Get Active, to help close the gender gap when it comes to physical activity.

Around 41.7% of men play sport at least once a week, but for women it’s just 31.6%, which equates to around a two million male:female difference in activity each week.

However, 13 million women and girls say they want to play more sport but only around half this number actually do.

The new guide, which brings together results from female-focussed campaigns like This Girl Can and I Will If You Will, aims to help sport and activity providers think about the barriers to activity and how to encourage women and girls to consistently get active.

It encourages providers to think about creating participation campaigns from the ground up and includes information on:

• Attracting women’s attention and encouraging them to attend
• Running sessions
• Keeping women and girls coming back
• Learning from others

Sport England board member Sally Gunnell said: “Putting into practice the advice in this guide could be the difference between women just thinking about getting active and actually being active.
“Everyone involved in the sport or leisure sector should consider implementing some of the measures in this guide, so we can bridge the gender fitness gap once and for all.”

To find out more about the guide and how to use it, click here.

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