Tuesday 4 November 2014 13:58, UK
Sport England CEO Jennie Price says a £10million investment in the new This Girl Can campaign is a necessary one to tackle the shortage of women participating in sport.
The gap between men and women playing sport and exercising regularly is around two million with females aged 16 lagging behind their male counterparts by almost 20 per cent.
Research conducted by Sport England shows that 75 per cent of women aged between 14 and 40 wanted to exercise more but were being held back by fears of how they are perceived while exercising and playing sport.
Price believes Sport England’s latest campaign, which is set to launch in January, will encourage women to take up sport and help bridge the gender inequality in participation in this country.
She told the Sportswomen show: “It’s a really big investment there is no question about that but when you think there are 9.4 million women aged between 14-40 in England, we’ll be spending just over a pound for each woman we are trying to persuade and it is also one twentieth of the lottery income we spend on sport every single year. So it is a big investment but it is a long-term investment because it is tackling a really important problem.
“What we’ve got to do is make more women feel more comfortable. A lot of this is about confidence and worrying about being judged and when you’re a teenager or in your early twenties you are much more worried about being judged and what people think of you than when you get that bit older.
“We thought maybe this was everywhere in Europe but actually the figures tell us the gender gap in Britain is rather bigger than it is in Europe. It seems to be bigger here than it is in lots of other European countries.”
It has been suggested in some quarters that the money may be better spent investing in facilities rather than a largely media-based campaign, but Price insists a fresh approach is needed to tackle the issue.
“It is important, we need to put money in and we’re trying to do that as well as this investment in communications,” Price said.
“It’s probably worth remembering this is a £10m investment out of £200m worth of lottery money that we get every year and we invest in facilities, activities and projects all year round and have done for a very long time.
“We’ve highlighted the gender gap so clearly, even with all the facilities and project investment, we have to do something more and something a bit different. So that’s why we are trying to tackle these barriers that don’t get talked about very much.”
