ABOUT US

‘Safer Spaces to Move’ is a dedicated project between ukactive and Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign designed to help women and girls to feel safer and more confident while being active in gyms, fitness spaces and leisure facilities by addressing concerns for personal safety and feelings of intimidation.

The Safer Spaces to Move project provides resources, training and guidance for the sector to reduce some of the barriers women and girls face in taking part in physical activity in facilities and creating spaces that are inclusive and enjoyable for all.

Who we are

 

ukactive exists to improve the health of the nation by getting more people, more active, more often. ukactive provides services and facilitates partnerships for a broad range of organisations, all of which support our vision and have a role to play in achieving that goal.

We serve over 4,000 members and partners from across the public, private and third sectors, from multinational giants to local voluntary community groups. We do so by facilitating partnerships, campaigning and providing outstanding membership services.

 

This Girl Can is Sport England’s award-winning, nationwide campaign to build women and girls’ confidence to be active, regardless of shape, size and ability – by celebrating them getting active in their own way.

Three-quarters of women say they want to do more sport or exercise, but research shows they are consistently less active than men. Fear of judgement and safety concerns are some of the top barriers holding women back, and we have found that 2.4 million fewer women than men find sport and exercise enjoyable.

We’re here to tackle the gender activity gap and the exercise ‘Enjoyment Gap’. This Girl Can challenges conventional ideas of what women exercising look like and connects with women of all backgrounds, abilities and ethnicities who might feel that getting active isn’t for them. So far, This Girl Can has inspired nearly 4 million women to engage with getting active in their own way – no matter how they look, how well they do it or how sweaty they get.

 

Sport England is a non-departmental public body with a strong mission: to enable everyone in England to take part in sport or physical activity, regardless of their age, background, or ability.

At This Girl Can, our sole focus is to help women get active in whatever way works best for them.

Many women rely on gyms and leisure centres to stay active. Safety concerns restrict women’s freedom and comfort in fitness and leisure centres and pose a significant barrier to them enjoying exercise.

Getting active should be a positive experience for all women – exercise is for everyone, and we must all work together to ensure everyone feels welcome.

Working with ukactive, we want to support all fitness facilities to reduce some of the barriers women and girls face in taking part in physical activity to help create spaces that are inclusive, safe and enjoyable for all.

Claire EdwardsHead of Campaign Activation at Sport England

Working with This Girl Can, our aim is to increase women’s enjoyment of exercise by fostering an environment where they feel able to report incidents and feel safe in the knowledge that these issues will be taken seriously. Any form of harassment in gyms and leisure centres is totally unacceptable and we expect operators to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and intimidation.

The fitness and leisure sector is proud of the role it plays in supporting millions of women and girls to be active, and we all want to make sure that every one of them feels as safe and as confident as possible.

Marianne BoyleDirector of Membership and Sector Development at ukactive