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Guidance to help leisure facilities appeal more to you

10th November 2021

We’ve teamed up with ukactive to produce advice aimed at encouraging more women and girls to use leisure facilities

If you’ve ever felt apprehensive about going to your local fitness or leisure centre, for whatever reason, you’re not alone. 

According to our latest Active Lives report, men continue to be more physically active than women, which is why we’ve teamed up with ukactive to produce new guidance to help gyms and recreational facilities become more welcoming places for us to visit.  

The guide, created over nine months and based on extensive research and insight, includes practical advice and checklists to help women and girls improve their engagement, experience, and confidence - as well as help close the gender activity gap. 

A black woman smiles while exercising on a machine in a gym

Leading fitness providers have welcomed the publication, titled "How to Improve Your Services for Women and Girls: As Told by the 51%," with Sport England's chief executive Tim Hollingsworth highlighting the value of public facilities in helping women to be active. 

“It’s crucial that we focus on getting more women regularly active,” he said. 

“Leisure environments are important for sustaining women’s activity levels; prior to the pandemic, 21% of women were regular participants in fitness classes, while the number of women taking part in weights sessions was also seeing an increase. 

“By listening to women and working with fitness providers to develop the guidance, we’re confident that it will help even more facilities to engage with women.   

“The development of this guidance has been a great example of collaboration on behalf of the sport and physical activity sector and will support organisations to appeal to more women.”  

Earlier this year, we partnered with ukactive to commission Savanta ComRes to carry out a survey of more than 1,000 women and girls which revealed that, while 60% of us visited a fitness or leisure centre at least once a month in the past three years, 50% were worried about being judged in this setting. 

Of those with a fear of judgement, more were concerned about being judged by other women (27%) than by men (22%). 

The results also showed that 13% worried about the risk or threat of sexual harassment, intimidation or embarrassment, with 45% saying a member of staff demonstrating exercises/activities and how to use equipment would encourage their participation. 

By listening to women and working with fitness providers to develop the guidance, we’re confident that it will help even more facilities to engage with women."

Tim Hollingsworth

Chief executive, Sport England

Nearly a third of women surveyed identified cost as a barrier to taking part, with 32% of those who’ve attended a fitness or leisure centre in the past three years saying it was too expensive. 

Huw Edwards, ukactive chief executive, thinks it's vital that the industry take these findings on board. 

“We have listened closely to the views of women and girls about how they feel using our nation’s gyms and leisure centres,” he said. 

“We know how popular fitness activities can be among women and girls, but there is a huge opportunity for our sector’s facilities to engage more women, as part of our shared ambition with the government to reach five million new members this decade.  

“Reducing the barriers to female participation is a fundamental challenge for our sector, with our research showing clear demand from more women and girls to be able to enjoy these facilities.      

“We are proud to partner with Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign to produce this practical guide for our members, which we believe will be a crucial tool to help improve their services for women and girls.”  

A separate survey, carried out by Savanta ComRes in September this year, found that despite the lower numbers of women being active, 57% of women said they intended to do more physical activity when coronavirus (Covid-19) is less of a factor, compared to just 44% of men. 

PureGym's UK managing director Rebecca Passmore is determined to take advantage of these most recent findings. 

“I feel very strongly that we need all women to feel like gyms are places they can belong, feel safe and confident to get active,” she said. 

“Through the work done by ukactive and Sport England we now have a clearer picture of women’s concerns about exercising at the gym, which is vital in our ability to start breaking down the barriers.  

“At PureGym we are already working hard to address these challenges, but seeing as these are industry-wide issues, we need an industry-wide response to make a real difference.  

“The launch of this guide will aid our collective efforts to make facilities more inclusive and welcoming environments, and to empower women to start their health and fitness journeys.”