International Women’s Day is back for another year and this year’s theme is balance for better which is a call to speed up gender balance across the world.
So what does the gender balance look like in terms of physical activity and sport in London?
We’ve taken a look at some of the results from the Active Lives survey produced by Sport England which provides a comprehensive overview of adult (aged 16+) sport and physical activity levels in London from May 2017 to May 2018.
We began by comparing levels of activity between genders for those considered active – completing at least 150 minutes of exercise a week.
The graphic highlights that across every age bracket that is researched in the survey, male activity levels are higher than females.
These figures have seen a slight improvement (approx 0.5%) since the first Active Lives Survey which was completed back in 2015, however, there is still a clear difference between participation levels between the genders.
Sport England has also created an Active Lives Children and Young People Survey which was completed over the academic year 2017/2018. We’ve looked to see if the patterns we see in adults is reflected at a younger age.
Primary and secondary school figures show that the difference in activity levels exists at a very early stage in development with the biggest gender gap being shown in years 5 and 6.
Help us get MORE women active
As part of London Sport’s work to support women and girls to have the opportunity to get more active, we are launching a behaviour change pilot with This Girl Can and Facebook.
The campaign will focus on recruiting and supporting less active women using the well-known This Girl Can brand created by Sport England back in 2015.
The Digital Behaviour Change Pilot is open for applications until 14 March. Find out more and get involved here.
Females dominate the Awards
Last year, the London Sport Awards fell on International Women’s Day and there is a heavy female presence for 2019 including, for the first ever time, the celebrations being led by a female host.
Journalist Jessica Creighton will be our guide for the evening having previously worked at some of the biggest sporting events on the globe and with some of the world’s most prestigious broadcasters.
Not only are we delighted to have Jessica on board but also to see such an array of inspirational females, and female-led projects on the 2019 shortlist including:
- The Hornbeam Joy Riders, an organisation that has supported women to overcome barriers preventing them from cycling and now has a network of over 80 female cyclists.
- London Youth created Active Leads, a sports focused volunteer and social action initiative to create a stronger culture of female volunteer leadership within community youth organisations.
