Why Sport England Says: This Girl Can

Former fitness-phobe Alice Ball takes a look at why Sport England wants to get women of all ages moving with the This Girl Can campaign, and speaks to some women who did

- Alice Ball

Throughout my teenage years, I saw exercise as a chore or something only naturally athletic people could enjoy, and I avoided any activity that involved getting remotely sweaty. Nowadays, I’m the gym bunny amongst my friends; I own more active wear than regular clothes and gain satisfaction from getting a sweat on. Yet many women admit to avoiding exercise. Before it launched its This Girl Can campaign in 2015, Sport England found that two million fewer females aged 14-40 played regular sport, compared to men, despite 75 per cent admitting that they wanted to be more active. 1 This Girl Can aimed to change all that.

You may have seen the adverts: women of all ages and abilities sweating and jiggling during sport, with no idealised, stylised images of traditional sporting figures. And this was the campaign’s goal, to help women overcome their main concern about exercise: fear of judgement of their shape, weight and sporting ability.

But it was about more than overcoming a fear of lycra and perspiration. This Girl Can aims to prevent many of the health concerns related to physical inactivity, including type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death from inactivity.

Whilst obesity has doubled in the UK over the past 30 years, it is higher amongst women than men. Being overweight and inactive significantly increases the likelihood of developing other conditions, which is why women are being specifically targeted. So it’s not so much about us losing weight and looking good; it’s about living healthily for longer.