Press Releases

WSFF responds to the latest Active People findings 

The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) is concerned by the fall in women’s participation in sport. According to the figures released by Sport England today, regular participation[1] amongst women has fallen by 61,000 to 2.727 million, while the number of men taking part has increased.

Sue Tibballs, Chief Executive of WSFF commented: “Today’s figures showing that women’s participation in sport is falling, and the gender gap growing, are very worrying.

“Our focus continues to be on reversing the trend. At over 50% of the population and largely an untapped market, we believe women offer the biggest space for sport to grow - and in the run up to London 2012, there’s never been a better time to seize that opportunity.  However, to make this happen, sport needs to become much better at understanding the barriers preventing women from taking part and then developing an offer which suits their individual needs.”

Despite the overall fall in participation amongst women, there are some definite green shoots:

• Athletics. Women are driving growth of the sport. 694,600 women now take part once a week, a rise from 612,000 from last year.
• Netball. Following an increase of 14,200 in the last 12 months, 130,900 women now play netball once a week.

As part of its on-going work and supported by Sport England, WSFF will look at the reasons behind these success stories and share the learnings amongst national governing bodies.

WSFF welcomed Sport England’s Active Women fund which was announced last month. The £10 million National Lottery funding round is designed to get more women from disadvantaged communities and women caring for children, playing sport. Sport England is calling on a wide range of community groups and sectors to make applications, including those who have not previously considered applying for funding.

Tibballs continues: “As well as focusing on how sport is delivered we also need to look at wider factors which impact on the state of play for women’s sport and influence grassroots participation. Two of the specific areas we’re trying to tackle through the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport is increasing the investment and media profile – without the profile, the money won’t come in. And without the role models, women won’t feel inspired to take part.”

-ENDS-

For more information please contact Harriet Foxwell on 020 72731744 / 07977138964 / [email protected]

Notes to editors

The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) is the charity that works to make physical activity an integral part of life for women and girls.

Today, 80% of women don’t do enough physical activity to benefit their health, half of young women think it is more important to be thin than healthy and only 2% of newspaper sports coverage is dedicated to women’s sport.

WSFF is working to change these statistics by:

• Providing consultancy support to help sport and fitness deliverers give the customer what she wants
• Working with the media and brands to foster a culture in which being active is attractive
• Persuading senior decision makers to use their influence and resources to help achieve our vision.

[1]  Regular participation is defined as taking part in at least 30 minutes of sport at moderate intensity at least three times a week