New guide to help facilities create more safe spaces for women

Sexual harassment and intimidation remain far too common in society – often affecting women when they're simply trying to get active – and the fitness sector has a critical role to play in challenging it.  

That’s why, in partnership with ukactive, we’re stepping up our work with fitness and leisure operators to ensure every woman can feel safe when exercising. 

We’ve published a new guide designed to help gym and leisure centre facilities communicate their policies and procedures around harassment and intimidation clearly, consistently and effectively. 

Launched today on the Safer Spaces to Move resource hub, the guide includes practical examples and tips to improve communication with gym members – helping to build trust and confidence among women and girls who use them. 

The new guide includes support for operators on: 

• communicating clearly that sexual harassment and intimidation are not tolerated in any circumstances 
• ensuring members know how to report concerns, what the process looks like, and what support is available 
• building trust in policies, procedures and staff training so more women feel able and confident to report issues. 

Our head of campaign activation, Claire Edwards, says we’re determined to support the fitness sector to play its part in addressing a wider societal issue.

“Every part of society has a duty to prevent harassment against women and girls,” she said. 

“With millions of women and girls using gyms and leisure centres, the fitness sector must be ready to tackle harassment and intimidation, and today’s launch reaffirms our commitment to helping gyms and leisure centres put stronger safety standards into action. 

“Preventing harassment before it happens is just as crucial as responding when it does. Only by ensuring women feel safe and confident when getting active, can we truly progress This Girl Can's aim to tackle the gender activity gap.” 

It follows last year’s publication of a set of resources to ensure operators have the knowledge and skills in place to respond to any instances of sexual harassment and intimidation on their sites, in partnership with CIMPSA and Women’s Aid. 

Hattie Jones, head of membership and sector development at ukactive, said: “This guide is another step forward in the sector’s commitment to ensure that every woman and girl feels informed, confident and empowered to use the broad range of services within our nation’s gyms, pools and leisure centres. 

“Given the growing demand our sector sees from women and girls and the popularity of these services, it is vital that all facilities play their part in addressing the societal issues of sexual harassment and intimidation. 

“We are proud to work with This Girl Can and the dedicated Taskforce to develop this practical resource, which gives operators practical examples and ideas to reassure and support new and existing members to feel confident and safe.” 

Rising awareness among women 

Operators have embraced Safer Spaces to Move’s prevention-first approach, and it’s already driving meaningful change. 

In 2022, our research found that less than half of female gym users (46%) were aware that their centre had a code of conduct or safety policies, while 15% of women who didn't report an incident of harassment or intimidation said it was because they didn't know who to report it to. 

Today, awareness has rapidly increased: Sport England’s Activity Check-in data from January 2026 reveals nearly two thirds of women aged 16-34 say their centre has a code of conduct (63%), clear procedures for reporting complaints (63%) and visible information on how to report harassment (62%).

But there is more work to be done.