The Enjoyment Gap was the 5th Phase of This Girl Can that launched in February 2023. Read about our current phase here.
In 2015 This Girl Can changed the game
We inspired 2.9 million phenomenal women to get active in all their sweaty, jiggly glory.
Everyday women with relatable bodies gave judgement the finger and got moving in ways that worked for them.
But despite this progress, there is still more to do.
Research shows that the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have had a disproportionate impact on women. Meaning they have less to spend on weekly budgets and less time to spend on themselves.
As a result, their activity levels have fallen and show little sign of recovery. So how can we make a change?
Our research shows 2.4m more men than women strongly agree that they enjoy sport and physical activity.
That’s 2.4m women missing out on the opportunity to relieve stress, build connections and improve self-esteem - to feel just a little more badass.
We call this the enjoyment gap.
What women have told us
We've heard from lots of women, we've listened, and we're here to give them a voice about what the barriers they face to getting active and why they're less likely to enjoy it as men. This is just some of what we've heard...
Every insecurity I’d ever had was so loud, and I just found it so dull. I was exercising to be skinny, not for enjoyment or fun.
Sophie
I used to love running but was scared to go out to try as being a big girl some people think it’s funny to laugh and point at the wobbly bird attempting to run down the road in a red sweaty haze.
Toni
I always prioritised everything and everyone before myself. I felt I was trying to be a good mum, wife etc. and exercise always got left behind.
Nila
Let's close the enjoyment gap
Enjoyment is the biggest driver in engaging people in sport and activity, that’s why together, this is a gap we need to close.
Enjoyment doesn’t just mean making activity fun. It means making it enjoyable in all its wind-breaking, quietly chuffed, belly laughing, sweaty pits, thank God that’s over, life-affirming splendour.
It means not having to worry about intimidation. It means a catch up with friends, with a work-out on the side. It means feeling accepted for who you are. It means no woman left behind.
The enjoyment gap is not inevitable and is completely fixable by challenging the practical and structural obstacles that make activity feel less welcoming for women.
With you, we will reshape women’s experiences to welcome all women with open arms. With you, we will challenge one another to act on women’s needs. With you, we will change so that no woman is left behind. With you, we can make a real difference to how women experience activity.
With you, This Girl Can.
Find out how in the next tabs on this page, which explain about the four key action areas to help close the gap.
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by The Enjoyment Gap, for you to easily download and refer back to later.
Closing the gap
So where do we start? With women of course.
Through countless conversations, zoom calls and heart to hearts with women and girls from across the country, we heard a myriad of concerns, ideas and solutions.
Stories of a football club who made it their mission to create space for the minority to be the majority.
A gym who rebuilt a woman’s confidence by supporting her journey back into exercise.
A group who uses fencing as a platform to challenge gender, racial and religious preconceptions.
From these conversations, we’ve identified four action areas where people like you – the people who make sport and physical activity happen – can help shrink that enjoyment gap once and for all.
Watch our film
The video shows footage of four difference organisations, Muslim Girls Fence, Goal Diggers FC, Welcome Gym and Black Girls Do Run UK. There is a voice over that switches between people from each organisation as they explain their experiences and introduce the enjoyment gap. The voice over switches between runners as they share their thoughts and experiences. It begins with up beat music, GIRLS.
We open the shot with a fencing instructor from Muslim Girls Fence demonstrating a fencing move.
Voiceover: I didn’t fit into the mainstream industries where I didn’t look like everybody else.
The shot moves to Goal Diggers FC as they move a goal post and huddle for a team talk.
We only had space to play in the carpark outside.
We switch to a boxer with her personal trainer at Welcome Gym
Voiceover: There’s a stigma. She’s in a wheelchair. She’s a woman. She can’t do much.
Her last big punch transitions us into shots of runners from Black Girls Do Run running in a park.
Voiceover: I always noticed at races that there was a lack of black women there.
Over different shots from each activity, we see supers on screen: 2.4 million fewer women than men enjoy sport & activity * number who strongly agree they find sport/exercise enjoyable and satisfying
The videos shows four close ups of one person from each organisation staring into the camera.
Voiceover: This is The Enjoyment Gap and we’re here to close it.
Supers on screen: The Enjoyment Gap
The camera spins to women fencing before transitioning to a montage of a group of runners, women in a group dance, walking to football, cycling and other gym exercises
Supers on screen: There are thousands of
New joiners
Movers
Shakers
Runners
Shooters
Grafters
Mothers
Daughters
Let’s make space for them
We switch to a shot of Goal Diggers FC play football.
Voiceover: It was this ethos of availability not ability.
Black Girls Do run UK are running together as a group in shot, switching between daytime running and a darker time. We see them stay on facetime with one of their runners until they get to their house.
Voiceover: We’ll try to do things so that we can get together felling safe and confident to run.
We switch to a group dance class at Welcome Gym. The women are having fun dancing.
Voiceover: Denise makes everything fun. But you can work at whatever level you choose.
A montage of Muslim Girls Fence in action as they social and fence.
Voiceover: To make something work, both parties need to sit side by side and understand each other.
A player from Goal Diggers FC scores a penalty and they celebrate.
Supers appear on screen over shots of different activities from the four different organisations: We must do more to help women enjoy sport & activity
It’s time to make a change
Let’s go
How can you close the gap?
Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can With You.
Find out more at ThisGirlCanWithYou.com.
The National lottery logo and Sport England logo appear.
Social
Social
Having a support network or feeling part of a bigger community is integral to making activity enjoyable whether you’re exercising alone or with others. Even if it’s a catch up with friends, with a workout on the side.
Learn moreSafe
Safe
Creating spaces where women feel emotionally and physically safe, free from harassment and intimidation. Because when they’re free from worry, they’re free to enjoy activity.
Learn moreSelf-affirming
Self-affirming
Creating an environment where members feel confident and comfortable in their own skin regardless of shape, size or ability. Boosting enjoyment by empowering them to show up unapologetically as themselves and find their tribe.
Learn moreSuitable
Suitable
Designing your offering to cater to your communities' specific needs. Considering their cultural and practical requirements, as well as ensuring timings are considerate of their competing priorities. You can power up enjoyment by making it feel possible for them.
Learn moreDownload the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by the Four Action Areas, for you to easily download and refer to later.
What does 'safe' mean for women?
Creating spaces where women feel emotionally and physically safe, free from harassment and intimidation.
Because when they’re free from worry, they’re free to enjoy activity.
Doing 'safe' well
Black Girls Do Run UK is a running group based in London but that also boasts an impressive online following. Their group aims to create a safety net and reduce the anxiety that running alone often brings.
The video shows footage of a running group, Black Girls Do Run UK, whilst they are on a run with each other. The voice over switches between runners as they share their thoughts and experiences. It begins with no music before it switches to upbeat music.
We open with a close up shot of a women running in a park.
Voiceover: Black women who are just running for their physical health, mental health. You don’t see any representation of that. And I always noticed at races that there was a lack of black women there.
The upbeat backing music, GIRLS, begins to play as the camera zooms out slightly and shows a group of black women running with her.
Voiceover: Black Girls Do Run UK is trying to make a change.
Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can x Black Girls Do Run.
The shot moves to the women stretching and warming up together in the park before heading off on a run.
Voiceover: Turning up at races now and seeing 15, 16 strong black women is something that I actually didn’t think I would see. I think to be seen makes people want to belong.
As the women run, one slows down and falls behind as she catches her breath. Another member of the group drops back and gets her whilst encouraging her “come on lets go”, she says in shot.
Voiceover: Doesn’t matter how fast, how slow you are, what you’re wearing, what you’re not wearing. We are open and we’re there to support everybody.
They continue to run together as a group.
Voiceover: No one is left behind.
Voiceover: We had a guy throw a bottle, the glass actually hit the back of my leg. We were lucky that we had each other.
We cut from a bright daylight shot to a darker light shot. A group of women are running together whilst one holds a phone speaking to their other group member on facetime, who is running home by herself after a virtual run.
Voiceover: We often do what we call virtual runs, so you might not be physically with someone, but we’ll have someone in our earphone running with us.
We move back to a daylight shot, the women are dancing, laughing and running together.
Voiceover: I guess, think about what you would need to feel safe and supported and that will filter out to everybody else.
They run as a group into the distance in the final shot while laughing with each other.
Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can With You.
Find out more at ThisGirlCanWithYou.com.
The National lottery logo and Sport England logo appear.
Why safe matters
From a safety point of view, women are often faced with things like cat calling whilst running alone and research has shown that black women experience this more.
Tasha
Black Girls Do Run UK
1 in 5 women say they worry about their safety while working out.
Walnut, This Girl Can Campaign Evaluation - Wave 22.
I knew many women had had bad experiences with different providers that had damaged their confidence and created a barrier to the sport (paddle boarding). As I spoke to more women, I found that there was a lack of environments that felt safe for women to try it, and the Paddle Her Way initiative came from that.
Sarah
Plus Size Paddler
What might doing safe well look like?
-
Feeling safe in their environemnt is vital to women feeling like they're able to be active.
Here are a few ideas about what doing safe well could look like:
Read answer
- Having clear safety policies and procedures in place.
- Communicating to both your staff and customers that you take safety seriously.
- Ensuring that your staff are fully trained on how to handle reports of sexual harassment or assault.
- Offering a range of reporting methods for women.
Hide answer
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by the Four Action Areas, for you to easily download and refer to later.
Want to share your idea?
Click below to get in touch using our form and share how you're making your activities safe.
Other ways we can help
Click below to see our resources page, full of guides, insights and toolkits to help you get women moving.
As told by the 51%
This Girl Can and ukactive joined forces to create a practical guide to help leisure facilities make their spaces more welcoming to women and girls that covers a range of topics, including safety.
See the reportWhat does 'self-affirming' mean for women?
Creating an environment where members feel confident and comfortable in their own skin regardless of shape, size or ability.
Boosting enjoyment by empowering them to show up unapologetically as themselves and find their tribe.
Doing 'self-affirming' well
Goal Diggers FC is a non-profit club in London aiming to make football more available and accessible to all women and non-binary people regardless of previous experience or ability.
Their inclusivity-first approach has led to an incredibly diverse community where members know it is safe to be themselves.
The video shows footage of football club Goal Diggers FC. It switches between players as they speal on their experience at the club. We open with a shot of the night sky before moving down to one Goal Digger FC player in the middle of a pitch. The video has a voiceover and begins with no backing track, which then switches to upbeat music.
Sport has always been linked to competitiveness and ability,
The backing track GIRLS kicks in. The Camera get closes and closer to the subject.
Voiceover: but there’s also a space and a group of people that want something different.
Ten years ago I’d never played football. Now the thing that defines me the most is being a Goal Digger.
They throw the football out of the shot as we pan to the next scene, the ball lands in a shot of the rest of the footballers.
Title appears on screen:
This Girl Can x Goal Diggers FC.
We cut to a daytime shots as a person holding their football boots in their hand walking towards the pitches as the Goal Diggers team welcome them with big smiles on arrival.
Voiceover: It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner, it doesn’t matter if you’re intermediate, it doesn’t matter what age you are, how much you’ve played. Football can be for you.
We cut to action shot of the team playing football. One player in crutches cheers the other members on from with another member on the side-lines.
Voiceover: This community has made it so much easier to come back to the sport after having to take a break when I was injured.
The camera cuts to a player setting up for a penalty before taking their shot, scoring and celebrating with their teammates.
Voiceover: It’s not because I’m taller. I stand taller, I’m more confident in myself. That’s something Goal Diggers has given me.
We switch to a night time shot of the players, and zoom in to one player’s bib with ‘They/Them’ written on it.
Voiceover: There are so many reasons why somebody in my position might feel like sport is not a place for them. But Goal Diggers, sort of, washes all of those concerns away.
The shot switches back to daytime as the players continue their match.
Voiceover: We say there is an ‘all’ in football for a reason, but without the space to create this change, it won’t happen. They players work together to move their goal post and huddle before we see all the club together in front of the goal.
They chant: GD, FC. GD, FC. GD, FC. Before running at the camera cheering.
Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can With You.
Find out more at ThisGirlCanWithYou.com.
The National lottery logo and Sport England logo appear.
Why self-affirming matters
Women told us they wanted less pressure, not more; encouragement to move for the joy of it and for the headspace, not for the competition. So we designed programmes that took all the pressure away.
Mel
This Mum Runs
23% of women don't feel comfortable in themselves exercising.
Walnut, This Girl Can Campaign Evaluation - Wave 24.
I was tired of hearing that football was a man’s game. The main aim of Goal Diggers FC is to show that football doesn’t need to be gendered – football is a sport for everyone.
Fleur
Goal Diggers FC
More ideas and inspiration
This Girl Can showcases Football Beyond Borders, a programme that aims to help girls that are passionate about football but feel disengaged academically.
This Girl Can spotlights the Get Out, Get Active campaign that supports disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy being active together and looks to engage the least active communities in fun and inclusive ways.
This Girl Can spotlights the #ShePaddles initiative from British Canoeing that aims to boost the number of women and girls in the paddling community.
What might doing self-affirming well look like?
-
Feeling confident and empowered is vital in helping women feel comfortable when getting active
Here are a few ideas about what doing self-affirming well might look like:
Read answer
- Seeing exercise as more than just losing weight and promoting this amongst your members.
- Encouraging your members to reflect on how exercise makes them feel.
- Being welcoming to all women and ensuring they feel comfortable to be themselves.
- Creating an inviting community.
Hide answer
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by the Four Action Areas, for you to easily download and refer to later.
Want to share your idea?
Click below to get in touch using our form and share how you're making your activities self-affirming.
Other ways we can help
Click below to see our resources page, full og guides, insight and toolkits to help you get women moving.
Studio You
Join the Studio You movement and you’ll help us make sure every girl, regardless of background or ability, can enjoy PE. Together, we can change the negative PE narrative for good.
Find out moreWhat does 'suitable' mean for women?
Designing your offering to cater to your communities' specific needs. Considering their cultural and practical requirements, as well as ensuring timings are considerate of their competing priorities.
You can power up enjoyment by making it feel possible for them.
Doing 'suitable' well
Welcome Gym is a gym network designed around the lives of its user and made to be as accessible as possible for everyone.
They started by looking at the lives of the people in their communities and building an offering around them so that people felt comfortable.
The video shows footage of multiple women attending Welcome Gym, working out in different areas of the gym. The video has a voiceover of different women and begins without any music before switching to an upbeat track.
We open on a shot of a women on a spin bike at the gym, staring into the camera.
Voiceover: If a lady comes to the gym and they feel very, very uncomfortable, my first thing would be,
Track GIRLS begins to play in the background.
Voiceover: is to go straight over to them and say to them, it doesn’t matter what other people are doing around you. This is your workout, not theirs.
The camera spins into a cycling class full of women. A title appears on screen:
This Girl Can x Welcome Gym
After zooming in or one of the wheels a transition to a group dance class is shown.
Voiceover: Denise makes everything fun in that class. We all have a good laugh. It’s a very, very mixed age group, but you can work at whatever level you choose.
Camera cuts to a woman boxing with her trainer.
Voice over: My personal trainer has given me so much confidence. It’s like, yeah, you’re Indian, you’re in a wheelchair. So what?
She takes a deep breath before giving one final punch and we cut to a woman deadlifting.
Voiceover: Welcome Gym have really been helpful in making weights in general less intimidating. I work in a pub, so lifting kegs, I can do that now.
As the weights drop, we cut to another woman on the rowing machine.
Voiceover: In here, there’s a real diversity of people that really does help with your confidence. And that’s the thing everybody needs to have.
Small snippets from each activity are shown, the dance instructor, the boxer and rower and dead lifter before cutting back to the cycling class and instructor from the beginning of the film as they clap and cheer at the end of their session.
Voiceover: You’re working for them as an individual, not as a whole class. Make them feel important. That was one thing I was taught that has always stuck with me.
Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can With You.
Find out more at ThisGirlCanWithYou.com.
The National lottery logo and Sport England logo appear.
Why suitable matters
I think a lot of people in the industry forget how intimidating or confusing starting any fitness journey can be. On top of that you’ve got the financial ask that people are increasingly struggling to justify, and it’s no surprise that people don’t join gyms or stick with them for very long.
Denise
Welcome Gym
18% of women say the choice of facilities, activities or classes they can access doesn't suit their lifestyle.
Walnut, This Girl Can Campaign Evaluation - Wave 24.
We are very focussed on involving learning disabled women in design of our sessions which aim to fill a gap in sports provision for learning disabled women who have additional cultural needs.
Hannah
Girls Get Active
More ideas and inspiration
This Girl Can showcases The Ramblers’ Out There Award. A free programme for young adults across England, Scotland and Wales, offering outdoor skills training, breaking barriers to getting outdoors.
This Girl Can showcases Our parks, founded to ensure there is easy access to exercise in local communities.
This Girl Can showcases the work of Moving Mums, an initiative from KAL (Kirklees Active Leisure) which seeks to encourage and attract pregnant women and new mums to remain active across its sites by providing suitable activities.
What might doing suitable well look like?
-
Considering the needs of your women is key to helping them be active
Here are a few ideas about what doing suitable well could look like:
Read answer
- Offering intro classes or inductions so women can try out a class before committing to a membership.
- Promoting entry-level classes or activities with as much prominence as other options.
- Considering the needs of audience groups when developing timings of activities offered.
- Providing facilities that factor in religious and cultural considerations relevant to your audience.
Hide answer
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by the Four Action Areas, for you to easily download and refer to later.
Want to share your idea?
Click below to get in touch using our form and share how you're making your activities suitable.
Other ways we can help
Click below to see our resources page, full of guies, insight and toolkits to help you get women moving.
This Girl Can With You: toolkit for partners and supporters
We produced a toolkit and a number of resources to make it as easy as possible for you to share and promote This Girl Can With You across the organisations and individuals in your networks.
Whether you already work within the sport and physical activity sector or you want to use activity as part of a wider agenda, the toolkits and assets will help you spread the word about this phase of our ground-breaking campaign.
Our research shows that 2.4 million fewer women than men strongly agree they enjoy getting active – this is what we call the enjoyment gap.
The enjoyment gap matters because enjoyment is one of the primary drivers of activity; but it is not inevitable, we can and must close it.
No one knows your communities, and the people within them who make activity happen, better than you.
Let's work together to close the enjoyment gap and get more women moving for good.
All resources are under embargo until the official launch date of 28 February 2023, so please do not share beyond your organisations or post these anywhere public until then. Thanks for your support.
Please note: If you’ve not already registered as a This Girl Can supporter you will need to do so first, as you need to be signed in to access these assets.
What does 'social' mean for women?
Having a support network or feeling part of a bigger community is integral to making activity enjoyable whether you’re exercising alone or with others.
Even if it’s a catch up with friends, with a workout on the side.
Doing 'social' well
Muslim Girls Fence is a project collaboration between Maslaha and British Fencing which aims to facilitate spaces at a grassroots level for Muslim girls and women to fence.
It focuses on the social aspect of activity by allowing students to come and fence or just sit back and catch up with each other, talk about their days or what they may be feeling or going through.
The video shows footage of a group of women in taking part in a Muslim Girl’s Fence class. The video has a voice over with no music on the background and then switches to upbeat music.
We open on a shot of a woman, Binni, standing alone in a sports hall. She is dressed in her fencing gear with her mask on. The camera closes in on her as she speaks through a voiceover.
Voiceover: I didn’t fit into the mainstream industries where I didn’t look like everybody else, because of the way I dressed,
Upbeat music, GIRLS, is introduced, Binni takes off her fencing mask.
Voiceover: Because of what I believed in. I want to give something to them that’s not the norm.
The camera whips around to a room full of fencers in masks and full suits fencing with their swords facing each other. Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can x Muslim Girls Fence
The shot shows Binni as she demonstrates how to lunge with the sword
Voiceover: Communities coming together and finding that they have so much in common.
The class attendees all stand in a line and lunge with their swords. The camera shows close ups of different women’s faces.
Voiceover: This is not a Muslim girls’ project anymore. This is just a women’s fencing project.
A woman helps another suit up as their laugh together before we see them both in action. They then sit socialising as they take a break.
Voiceover: When you have like those friends that you don’t see for ages but when you meet up again, it’s nice to catch up with them, it’s like nothing has changed.
The Camera cuts to a mother and daughter laughing in class before panning to them, as well as others fencing together.
Voiceover: My mum is, at home, she’s quite serious, but here it’s like she has a chance to be free as well. When we fence against one another, it’s so much fun. She definitely pulls out secret moves, and so do I.
A montage of different women fencing, a woman takes of her helmet as takes a breath of relief.
Voiceover: I’m meeting lots of different women, lots of different ages, lots of different backgrounds, and we’re learning about each other’s cultures and lives.
The setting moves from the sports hall to a café. The women are now dressed in their every-day clothes and are sitting around a table drinking hot drinks and socialising.
Certain communities are hard to reach, have you reached them enough? You have to become part of that community to understand its needs.
The camera zooms out. Titles appear on screen:
This Girl Can With You.
Find out more at ThisGirlCanWithYou.com.
The National lottery logo and Sport England logo appear.
Find out more about Muslim Girls Fence
Why social matters
More ideas and inspiration
This Girl Can showcase Ramblers Wellbeing Walks, free short walks that take place across England.
This Girl Can showcases In It Together, a project helping women in Somerset get active through community-based exercise and sports activities.
This Girl Can showcases Our parks, founded to ensure there is easy access to exercise in local communities.
See more stories
What might doing social well look like?
Social can vary from person to person
Here are a few ideas about what doing it well could look like for you:
Download the essentials
We've created a summary of what we mean by the Four Action Areas, for you to easily download and refer to later.
Want to share your idea?
Click below to get in touch using our form and share how you're making your activities social.
Tell us more
Other ways we can help
Click below to see our resources page, full of guides, insight and toolkits to help you get women moving.
Resources