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While programs are vital to increasing participation, there
remain a range of cultural and psychological reasons as
to why women can’t find their way to the gym. According
to Sport England, 75% of the women interviewed wanted
to work out more. Moreover, there remains a significant
gender gap, with two million fewer women than men
regularly participating in sport.
Across Europe, the ratio of men to women who stay fit
are roughly similar, though in the U.S. there is a massive
discrepancy. In a 2013 study, Preventative Medicine found
that men were getting as much as twice as much daily
exercise as women.
Returning to England, the data behind the new program
highlighted one overall reason why women are not running,
dancing or pumping iron. This reason is fear. Sport England
chief executive Jennie Price says that “one of the strongest
themes was a fear of judgement. Worries about being
judged for being the wrong size, not fit enough and not
skilled enough came up time and again.” The massive sports
equipment/fashion sector markets its product with typically
fit and svelte beauties: while Nike and Adidas now feature
women sweating, they rarely have them giggling.
This Girl Can focuses on women of all sizes and skill levels
achieving. “The aim was to create a celebration of ordinary
women smashing through the many and different barriers
each face,” London agency FCB copywriter Simon Cenamor
says. “We had a desire to feature as wide an array of women
and sports as we could.”
The campaign features slogans such as “I jiggle, therefore I
am” and “sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox” accompanied
by images of a wide range of women working out. It was
an instant hit on social media, trending at number two on
twitter on the day of release and generating over eight
million hits since its launch.
This Girl Should:
female part icipat ion in sport
Sport England has recently introduced a new campaign to get women more involved in sport. It is called ‘This Girl
Can’, and bases its approach on new data that shows why women don’t exercise as much as men.
In this issue, Touchline looks at the reasons why programs like This Girl Can are necessary to increase female
participation in sport, as well as the continuing barriers between women and a healthy lifestyle.
By Timothy Mottram
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ISSUE 21 | AUGUST 2015