Trends in women's sport participation

Did you know that more than 80% of women are not doing enough physical activity to benefit their health? Young women aged 16 – 24 are nearly half as active as their male counterparts. The statistics are even worse for low income and black and minority ethnic women.

Forecasts in participation rates for women in the next ten years show an even gloomier picture: one forecast shows a potential fall of 5.5% by 2017. This could amount to 1.25 million fewer women being sufficiently active.

At the same time, three out of five women believe that they do enough exercise to be healthy, whereas in reality less than one in five are actually doing enough.

These figures come at a time when Sport England has pledged to increase participation in sport and exercise by 1% every year. A target of getting two million more people active by 2012 from low participation groups (including women) has been set.

Government is facing up to the challenge of creating a fitter and healthier nation – and the London 2012 Olympics have been sold on a promise of a legacy of increased participation – but this report argues that it’s time we faced up to the realities of trying to create a nation of more active women and girls.

It’s time … the sport sector viewed women on an equal basis as men.

It’s time … we made women aware of the importance of being active, and provided the activities and facilities that women want, where they want, and at the times they want.

It’s time … we took meaningful action to challenge a culture that allows girls to grow up believing it is more important to be thin than healthy.

In the report you will find both stories of WSFF and the past 25 years of women’s sport – presented in a way which we hope fulfils two objectives; firstly, to explain who we are, where we came from and where we are heading and secondly, to give you goose bumps.

We want you to feel the same shiver which travelled down our spines when we relived moments like Tessa Sanderson standing proudly atop the medal podium at the 1984 Olympic Games, Dame Kelly Holmes’ wide eyed shock at winning the second of her two gold medals in Athens, and the moment when England midfielder Jill Scott rose above a crowd of defenders to send England into the final of a major championship for the first time in 25 years.

While looking back fills us with joy, it is looking forward which really excites us. We are now operating in a time when more doors are being opened for women in sport and the amount of people working towards that same goal is growing. So while we’re proud to be celebrating our 25th birthday this year, we are already planning for the years ahead which we hope will bring even more reasons to be proud and of course, more goose bumps.

The audit exposes just how uneven the playing field currently is when it comes to men and women. Across leadership, investment and promotion in sport, women are on the back foot. It’s time to take these learnings and drive positive change.

In learning from where women’s sport is a success story and capitalising on the current prominence of sport, there’s huge potential. 

In order to inspire real and lasting change it does, however, need to be a team effort.

Across several years the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport will be spearheading a shift across the sector, inviting all of its colleagues to join forces in tackling the three big issues to give women more of a sporting chance.

We hope that this is the first step towards a big change in women’s sport, one that all members of the sport shall champion.

Drawing on lessons from the world's most successful companies it makes the business case for having more women in sport's senior management and sets out recommendations on how organisations can achieve this.

Our aim at the Commission is to work hand-in-hand with leaders in sports bodies, to highlight the problems, provide practical solutions and to increase the number of women in leadership positions.

While our role focuses on gender, we also recognise that a balanced board should represent the full diversity of the community, including BME groups and disabled people too.