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Summary of key findings: supporting women and girls to be active
In March 2024, the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport (CTS) Board launched a call for evidence on supporting women and girls to be active. This report summarises the key findings and next steps.
Foreword by Cllr Liz Green
In March 2024, the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport (CTS) Board launched a call for evidence on supporting women and girls to be active. It had the following objectives:
It had the following objectives:
- Accelerate learning by collating and sharing case study examples from councils and wider organisations that are effectively supporting women and girls to be more physically active.
- Gather evidence on the challenges and solutions to help inform our future work.
When we started, we had no idea that six months later this work would position us effectively to contribute to no less than three of the new Labour Government’s five missions, namely: 'Break down barriers to opportunity', 'Take Back Our Streets' and 'Build an NHS fit for the future'. There is also a supporting role to the fourth mission of kickstarting the economy, due to the link between inactivity, poor health, and productivity.
The evidence we received clearly demonstrates some great work is taking place, but it is fragmented by: ad hoc funding streams, workforce and training issues, absence of a national strategy, poor quality data and lack of research on the barriers stopping women and girls from being active at each stage of their life. This in turn is resulting in less women and girls being supported to be active.
Research shows that more men participate in sport and physical activity than women in almost every age group. Closing the gender gap and enabling more women to be active in ways that suit them doesn’t just improve their own physical and mental health. Women have a strong influencing role within their own families and therefore on the health and wellbeing of future generations.
This is the first in a two-year project commissioned by the CTS Board to take an in-depth look at reducing inequalities in the least physically active groups. In the following months we will look at: children and young people, disabled people, the least active ethnic minority groups, and older people. We will share our findings, effective practice and learning in our new Active Communities Hub.
Cllr Liz Green, Chair LGA CTS Board
Why women and girls' physical activity levels?
Research shows that women are persistently less active than men and the trend starts from a young age.
Data from the Active Lives survey shows that:
- In 2021/22, men were 4.8 per cent more active than women, similar to the gender gap recorded in 2015/14.
- In 2022/23, boys were 6.8 per cent more active than girls, the same as the gender gap recorded in 2017/18.
Being physically active is important because it has been shown to: improve health and wellbeing, manage and prevent long-term health conditions, improve confidence and social connectedness, decrease feelings of loneliness and exclusion. Increasing physical activity levels in the least active is a key preventative measure.
Yet despite it being hailed as a miracle cure, four in 10 women are not active enough to ensure they get the full health benefits.
Our goal was to accelerate and support learning amongst councils and their partners and to explore what makes an effective intervention.
Recognising intersectionality and inequality
As explored above, inequalities exist between women and men. However, they also exist within intersections. Some examples of inequalities within intersectionality taken from the recent Active Lives survey 2022/23 shows that:
- Black women are 4.8 per cent more inactive than Black men.
- Asian girls are 6.4 per cent more inactive than Asian boys.
- Women with a disability or long-term health condition are 2.4 per cent more inactive than men with a disability or long-term health condition.
What is Intersectionality?
Newcastle University’s definition of intersectionality says: “Intersectionality considers people’s overlapping identities and experiences. It is a framework for conceptualizing a person, group of people, or social problem as affected by a number of discriminations and disadvantages.
It allows policymakers to think about how gender, class, race and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap. This is important as people identify with multiple characteristics (e.g. their race, gender, age) at the same time, and it’s the intersection of these that can determine the complexity of prejudices and discrimination that they encounter. Many everyday approaches to equality tend to focus on tackling one form of discrimination at a time, but intersectionality allows us to understand and address all the potential barriers an individual is facing.”
Why is this important in policy making and what role does it have in developing an effective intervention? Intersectionality helps us to understand how people experience services like park and leisure services and public spaces as a result of their identity and unequal power dynamics. Understanding these differences helps us to develop more effective policies and interventions that help to address all the potential barriers an individual faces.
Make Space for Girls highlights this well. They campaign for parks and public spaces to be designed for girls and young women, not just boys and young men. They put teenage girls at the centre of all their work because they are the experts on their local spaces and understand how to make things better. The lack of park facilities for girls, and the barriers excluding them from current provision raises issues about equality and public space, which has an impact on their health. But the connection is rarely made between girls’ lower activity levels and their lack of opportunities to be active outside. Make Space for Girls believes there is no ‘one size fits everyone’; all voices need to be heard for change to happen.
We endeavoured to seek out and share learning from projects that focused on intersectionality. A few of the examples we received (but not limited to) included the British Wrestling Legacy project to empower women in wrestling and Nottingham City Council’s Swim for confidence for the South Asian and Muslim Community. More examples can be found on our case studies page.
What we received, what we did with it and how we will use it
As part of our call for evidence on supporting women and girls to be active we asked councils and wider organisations to respond to four questions. Each question had some examples to prompt thinking (see appendix A for the response template). The questions were:
- What’s working?
- What’s not working?
- What needs to change?
- What is the data telling us?
The call was open to local authorities in England and Wales and to wider organisations with a remit for delivering interventions to support women and girls to be active such as: inhouse/outsourced leisure providers/operators, grassroots sports clubs and community groups, the health sector, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, arm's length Bodies and national Governing Bodies for sports. This approach was taken because we recognised that there are many wider organisations who work in this space, and we wanted to accelerate learning across different sectors and stimulate ideas and ways of working.
In total we received 26 case studies and 33 pieces of evidence. These were submitted by 24 wider organisations and 17 local authorities. Some bodies provided multiple submissions. See appendix A for breakdown of submissions by type of local authority and region.
The LGA research team analysed each piece of evidence question by question, conducting a thematic analysis with supplementary quotes from residents, service users and the organisations.
Although the sample of evidence received was relatively small, many of the themes that emerged resonated with wider research undertaken by the LGA into the challenges facing councils as identified in our Local Government White Paper.
We have produced this report with the key findings based on the evidence and recommendations submitted by the councils and wider organisations who responded to our call for evidence. The evidence is also helping to inform our future work, and our offer to the Government on physical activity, sport and leisure’s role in delivering its missions to:
- Break down barriers to opportunity: enabling everyone particularly women and girls achieve their potential, broadening inclusion and maximising a place-based approach to increasing accessibility to opportunities.
- Build an NHS fit for the future: emphasising the importance of reducing health inequalities and increasing access to physical activity as a crucial element of preventative work.
- Take back our streets: ensuring the public realm and services are designed with the needs of women and girls in mind.
The case studies have been published on the LGA’s main case study webpage and linked through to the women and girls section on the Active Communities Hub. The Active Communities Hub is the central repository for our two-year project into reducing inequalities in the least active groups. Findings and resources will be uploaded after each deep dive has been completed. Future deep dives include: children and young people, disabled people, the least active ethnic minority groups, and older people.
Summary of key findings
Question one – What approaches are working?
The findings in this section look at responses to question one, which asked for evidence demonstrating the interventions and approaches that are effectively supporting women and girls to move more. We have amalgamated the answers received by councils and wider organisations and drawn out key themes. We have noted where issues were specific to councils or to wider organisations.
A targeted approach which removed barriers to participation was noted most frequently by councils and wider organisations as important in effectively supporting women and girls to move more. This covered providing appropriate activities for specific female groups and using a location or venue which was both local and convenient and met the needs of the participants.
The focus of targeted approaches differed slightly between both sets of respondents but there was some overlap. Wider organisations commonly mentioned: PE activities for girls at school, activities for menopausal women, pre- and post-natal women, women from ethnic minority groups and faith groups where modesty and privacy during activities would need to be observed. Councils most cited targeted approaches for: active mums, women from ethnic minorities and faith groups, women from a particular demographic (such as older women or girls in school).
Themes reported as a key factor in successful programmes were:
- Co-designed and co-produced activities enables women and girls to shape programmes to their own needs. It prevents avoidable mistakes when creating the programme and can encourage participation because women and girls feel listened to and are invested in the activity.
Above all, the girls now recognise that their voice is valued and that [we] have their needs and interest at our heart. Where once they were reluctantly compliant in PE, now they are taking an active interest in its delivery and enthused about what they want to do.” - Youth Sport Trust
- Using settings and local venues that are convenient, safe and accessible helped to encourage participation. For instance a space or hall attached to a place of worship and providing sessions to coincide with times when women were already at this location. Using venues where mothers could also bring their children was a key factor. Other examples which encouraged participation included enabling attendees to contribute to deciding the content of sessions, timings, and locations of activities.
- A holistic approach, recognition that physical activity has benefits beyond physical health, such as improved mental health and social connectedness. This approach included activities in safe and comfortable women-only environments that built in an opportunity to connect and socialise with other women. This was viewed as equally beneficial in encouraging participation alongside the activities themselves. Participants gained in terms of confidence building, making connections and combatting loneliness. Examples of activities included a focus on mindfulness, mental wellbeing and shared experiences.
I love coming to the Tuesday morning class as it's helping me to lose weight, enjoy exercise and feeling good in myself. It's great to meet new people and helps with my anxiety.” - Female participant, Sunderland County Council
“I think the mental health side is huge, but also I am really conscious as women of a certain age we are getting to a point where strength work is really important.” - Female participant, Forestry England Active Partnership
- Working with partners from across different sectors can increase engagement, reach and encourage participation from historically inactive groups.. Examples cited included the importance of working and collaborating with key partners including, women and girls themselves, hyperlocal organisations that are known to and trusted by communities, schools including PE teachers, charities, local community and faith leaders, ward councillors, social prescribers, GP surgeries, health visiting and school nursing services, children’s centres, park and leisure services, parents.
- Approaches which encouraged empowerment and confidence were also effective, whether providing participants with female coaches/role-models, leadership opportunities or enabling women to input into the design and structure of activities. This encouraged bonding with other women in a female only environment.
It's better than a gym because it's fun, we can have a laugh and are allowed to listen to our own music." - Female Participant, Active Together Leicester Rutland
“I’ve got a lot more confidence now and I’ve got a lot more friends. So it’s just been really good to have a group and be included…” - Girls Active Leader, Youth Sport Trust
- Including an educational element around health and fitness to encourage lifelong or longer-term participation and commitment to and in activity.
The offer of adventurous, fun and engaging activities with accredited opportunities delivered by positive female leaders and role models makes the offer at the Urban Adventure Base a well-attended and valued project for local young women.” - London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Summary of the factors that contribute to a successful activity:
- Targeting activities towards the needs and interests of specific female groups.
- Activities which have been co-designed and co-produced.
- Using settings and local venues that are familiar, convenient, safe, comfortable, and accessible and allowing children to remove the barrier of childcare.
- Women only sessions, with female coaches/staff that support empowerment and encourage longer term participation.
- Holistic approaches to wellbeing that build in time to enable social connections, bonding, build confidence and develop support networks.
- Classes which target different stages of life, particularly around menopause and pregnancy.
- Sessions which are highlighted as for beginners, driving the accessibility for those who lack confidence and/ or fitness.
- Culturally specific sessions, such as dance classes.
- Working with partners to engage with the least active women and girls and to build an offer that’s right for them.
Food for thought
- Although the evidence received was not a large enough sample to make concrete conclusions and was not taken from the same geographical area, it did highlight that the groups focused on by councils and wider organisations differed slightly.
- Councils and organisation thinking of developing new offers may benefit from mapping activities that are already on offer locally. This could help: maximise resources, identify potential partners, avoid duplication, address gaps in provision, especially for intersectionality’s that are not currently being provided for but may benefit from a personalised activity offer aligned to their specific needs.
- Local data insights via the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) may be a useful too. The JSNA provides a wealth of intelligence and data on the health and wellbeing needs of the local population and will include a chapter on women and girls. The Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS) will also provide strategic insights.
Question two: what are the barriers to participation and delivery?
The findings in this section look at responses to question two, which asked for: evidence on the barriers stopping women and girls being active and what was preventing councils and local organisations from delivering on this agenda. We have amalgamated the answers received by councils and wider organisations and drawn out key themes. We have noted where issues were specific to councils or to wider organisations.
Barriers to participation
- A lack of appropriate female-only spaces to exercise was a barrier to women participating in physical activity. Women expressed concerns about: harassment, being observed whilst exercising, finding the environment more competitive in a mixed-gender activity setting, all of which was off-putting. Girls also expressed unease when participating in activity with boys and this was particularly the case during puberty. There were also a lack of female activity leaders and role models to supervise sessions. The need for female-only spaces was also linked with a need to provide activities that responded to cultural sensitivities such as modesty and privacy during activities.
- A lack of understanding or engagement around cultural sensitivities had created a barrier to physical activity. This included an initial lack of engagement with the community by providers when deciding on the types of physical activity sessions they were planning to run. Focusing on understanding cultural sensitivities and the activities that were wanted by women from faith groups was important. A lack of consideration of cultural norms and faith sensitivities for instance around dress, types and nature of activity and female-only spaces and instructors had created barriers to participation. Other issues such as language barriers, fear of judgement and accessibility of venue had also led to a lack of participation.
Other barriers included
- A lack of time, childcare and work commitments and lone parent responsibilities. Some women were more inclined to put the needs of their families or partner before their own and some felt guilty for spending time or money on exercise.
- The cost of taking part in activities. This included participation fees and the costs of clothing and kit. Additional financial restraints due to limited budgets, existing debt and the cost of living had compounded this issue
- A lack of awareness of activities available in the local area had led to an underutilisation of existing resources.
- A lack of general knowledge about the full range of benefits to be gained through physical activity at different life stages.
- The complex nature of the referral system to physical activity from health and social care providers.
- Barriers caused by transport limitations included the lack of public transport links to venues and the costs of transport, including parking
A lack of confidence or fear of judgement prevented women from participating in activities. This included a nervousness around traditional sports, fear of the unknown, poor body image and concerns about fitting in. - Parental attitudes towards girls’ independent mobility was also a contributory factor to girls being able to participate
- Concerns around the safety of the venue where activities were being held. Examples included poor lighting, youths loitering and accessibility.
- A lack of hygiene in communal areas.
- Venue accessibility with particularly an issue for disabled women.
Food for thought
Make space for girls has created images of what parks and public spaces designed for girls would look like. Some of these conclusions are based on a small number of European schemes and do not incur vast costs. Central to making this work is talking to teenage girls and they have developed talking points for a consultation exercise. Some of the interventions include:
- playful spaces which allow you to sit, climb or just lie around with friends. And getting up higher feels safer too
- a stage for fun. This could have the added benefit of doubling up as a place for community use and exercise classes
- better lighting
- more swings
- good quality toilets
- wider entrances to play areas
- dividing up a MUGA or any space. Smaller, subdivided sports areas avoids one group dominating the space and makes space for more people
- adding a second more open court
- social seating
- circular paths around the edge of the park
- social exercise spaces that are arranged so that girls can chat, a phone charging point is even better
- weather proof, this can have the added benefit of more sustainable practices such as collecting rainwater.
Barriers to delivery
- Uncertain and ad hoc funding was cited as a major issue because it causes instability within programmes. We received evidence that demonstrated that this was an issue for successful pilots and some had stopped delivering because of a lack of funding and are on hold until further funding could be secured. Respondents cited a number of different funding sources including This Girl Can funding, NGB for sports, public health, funding from charities and philanthropic sources. All with different criteria, application processes, the length funding pots was available for differed between funders.
Numerous councils, including Stevenage, are facing budgetary constraints, resulting in minimal or non-existent funding for activities. Consequently, funding for initiatives like this must be sought externally. However, a significant challenge arises from the short-term nature of such funding. These projects typically lack long-term financial support, rendering the activities inaccessible once the funding dries up. This creates a barrier for many individuals who rely on these activities for their well-being and engagement within the community.” - Stevenage Borough Council
Ninety-three per cent of community organisations within our [StreetGames] network prioritise supporting women and girls to be more physically active. However, only 36 per cent reported having the necessary funding to facilitate such initiatives. Consultation with 212 Locally Trusted Organisations, StreetGames.
We support these women [Black women and their children] to walk through Epping Forest a space where not all women would feel safe or confident to walk without this support. There is often a lack of funding to enable staff to take the time to support local people to access their local green spaces – this would be a worthwhile investment as it would have lasting effects when people are enabled to go back to these spaces independently.” - Black Girls Hike
Community organisations are best placed to activate greenspaces in line with the needs of women and girls, but need certainty through appropriate long-term funding to continue their good work” - Bradford Local Delivery Pilot
- Workforce was also cited as a barrier. The current workforce for sport and leisure does not adequately reflect communities or deliver the needs of physically inactive women. There can be recruitment and retention challenges in finding female staff to run women only sessions which is especially important for some cultures and religious groups, and for other women to feel comfortable exercising. Overall, the workforce is not adequately trained to help promote the safety and comfort of women, which is more acute when considering the cultural requirements of some women and girls.
54 per cent [of the 212 Locally Trusted Organisations consulted in the StreetGames network] stated recruiting staff with the right skills/staff turnover as a challenge. We’ve heard from many girls and women how important it is to have the ‘right staff’ and the importance of them taking time to build relationships and understand the motivations of those attending.” - StreetGames
Relevant, diverse workforce (from the local community) - We identified inspiration[al] women from within the community surrounding each school to take on the role of Ambassador. Having role models as Ambassadors that the girls can relate to with a skill set to empower and engage positively with the girls has been critical to the success of the programme.”- Derby and Nottingham Schools
A lack of high quality and quantity of data and research was cited as a barrier to delivery. There were a number of strands to this, which included:
- The importance of high quality data and the right datasets. This was critical for councils and wider organisations to be able to: understand the barriers facing women and girls, design effective interventions, make evidence based decisions, develop successful bids for funding activities.
- The sample sizes used by national surveys like the Active Lives Survey was too small. This was particularly problematic for local authorities. This is because at their level the sample size is not always sufficient to interrogate against multiple demographics like gender, age and socio-economic group. Bigger sample sizes would enable better. understanding of the trends around who is/isn’t active in different types of activities and allow benchmarking and identify good practice. It was noted that there are complimentary data sets available such as the Youth Sport Trust Girls Active National Reports - Youth Sport Trust.
- Limited data prevents councils and wider organisations from developing a robust evidence base which is needed to build an effective case for investment. The unintended consequence is that the groups that need the support most are not receiving funding because there is no data to support the case.
- Many councils and organisations collect data on the impacts of their funding but this remains tied to the immediate impacts e.g. number of participants, participants future intentions, and improvements in awareness and fitness. They do not usually extend beyond this, resulting in a lack of data on the long-term impacts of funding which is important to be able to calculate the return on investment and gain buy in for continued investment in projects.
- There is a lack of national research and evidence on the barriers faced by women and girls and the interventions that effectively support them to be active, participate and sustain activity. It was noted that understanding what women and girls say are the inhibitors, views on motivation, access, availability of desired activities, transport infrastructure, safety is important to be able to design effective interventions.
- The absence of national research means that councils and wider organisations have to carry out their own research. This is not efficient or cost effective because organisations are reinventing the wheel multiple times by carrying out similar research. In addition not all organisations will have access to resources and expertise to carry out research. A national repository would address this issue.
- An absence of datasets on specific issues underlined the feedback on a lack of data. It was suggested a comprehensive local health survey delivered nationally to take advantage of ‘economies of scale’ would be beneficial.
Limited availability of data and evidence on the specific needs and barriers faced by females in accessing leisure centres may hinder evidence-based decision-making and targeted interventions. Insufficient monitoring and evaluation mechanisms may impede efforts to assess the effectiveness and impact of initiatives over time.” Portsmouth City Council
More research and evaluation to better understand the barriers and challenges faced by female wrestlers and to identify effective strategies for increasing participation and retention. This could involve collecting data on participation rates, dropout rates, and the experiences of female wrestlers to inform future initiatives and interventions.”- British Wrestling
Question three: what needs to change to drive progress?
The findings in this section, respond to question three, which asked for evidence on what local areas need to be able to deliver on this agenda and what changes are needed at national level to drive progress. We have amalgamated the answers received by councils and wider organisations and drawn out key themes. We have noted where issues were specific to councils or to wider organisations.
Findings have been broken down under the following themes:
Strategic focus
- There is no clear strategic plan or commitment to focus on this area at national level which is needed to drive the agenda forward.
Partnership working
- Adopting a more informed approach which avoided repeating those elements which had not previously worked. This included approaches such as co-production, collaboration and partnership working.
- The need to work with multi-agency partnerships, healthcare providers, schools and faith groups was specifically mentioned to provide a more tailored approach for the local community.
- Running steering groups with women and girls and consulting with faith groups to gather information to offer appropriate activities.
- Working with primary care providers to offer physical activity as a form of preventative care and improving referral routes for women to local programmes.
Engaging and consulting women and girls
- A greater focus on engaging with women and girls to collaborate and co-produce a physical activity offer. This is key to ensure the right activities are in place and barriers removed so that activities are accessible and attractive for the desired groups.
- Liaising with Locally Trusted Organisations, community leaders and faith groups to develop understanding of cultural sensitivities and barriers and to expand reach to women and girls from these faiths/communities.
- Ensuring there is specific regard to intersectionality and tackling the barriers these may present.
- It was suggested that this level of input would strengthen policies, networks and programmes and better inform strategies.
- Targeted advertising to raise awareness.
Sustainable funding
- Sustainable and long-term funding is required for local and national level projects to effectively address the inactivity of women and girls.
- Ensuring processes to secure funding are not onerous for organisations to complete.
- Stability of funding to enable programmes to run for the longer term and provide a consistent offer for those who need to access the offer.
- Flexibility so resources could be targeted effectively at the local level and funding could be used for more than just delivery e.g. including funding to maintain and staff green spaces, to provide kit, coaching, female friendly facilities, training for instructors..
- Recognition from funders that sustained funding enables services to continually improve and align more closely with what the end users require, and to embed within communities.
Workforce improvements
- Support from leisure operators/in house providers and professional bodies to recruit and train a more diverse and upskilled workforce to support more women and girls to become active. An increase in appropriately skilled workforce is necessary to make progress.
- Training and development support for councils and wider organisations to be able to recruit, train and increase the capacity of female role models, activity leaders and volunteers to provide a diverse female workforce from the local community.
Improved data collection and insights
- Ensuring the right reporting measures are in place for local and national programmes
- Expanding the sample size for the Active Lives survey for adults and children and young people to enable meaningful interrogation at local level
- Increasing the datasets available on women and girls but consulting with councils and wider organisations on the datasets that are needed to provide better data insights to inform work at local level to address inequalities
- Improved data collection would increase understanding of who participates in different activities, and why some women and girls remain inactive and to where to best target interventions. It would enable councils and other organisations to make data informed decisions and build the case for investment in their services.
Spaces for women and girls
- Many spaces lack women only areas or sessions, and women may not feel safe in existing spaces. Taking stock of existing spaces for physical activity and consulting women and girls before revising existing spaces to ensure they are suitable for their needs and are spaces they feel safe in.
- This is a central consideration when redesigning or building new leisure facilities, parks, active travel routes, outdoor spaces within the public realm and also for leisure providers or in house providers when they are programming activities for leisure services.
- Delivery of low-cost activities and schemes in order to remove barriers to participation.
Food for thought
- The call for evidence closed prior to the announcement of the general election therefore the following points were not raised by respondents. However LGA discussions with stakeholders since the election of the new Government highlight an opportunity for a more strategic approach at national level.
- The new Government has committed to a number of related priorities including: focusing on women’s health as it reforms the NHS, tackling the social determinants of health, getting more children active by protecting time for physical education, supporting the role grassroots clubs play in expanding access to sport. There is a clear remit for this under four of the Missions.
- We do not yet know if the DHSC women’s health strategy’ or the DCMS ‘Get active strategy’ which set a target to get 1.25 million more women active by 2030 will continue. A cross-government strategy is needed if progress is to be made.
Question four: what is the data telling us?
The findings in this section, respond to question four, which asked for evidence on the impact funding is having on women and girls activity and participation levels. Evidence on the return of investment and the national and local datasets that are needed to progress this work. We have amalgamated the answers received by councils and wider organisations and drawn out key themes. We have noted where issues were specific to councils or to wider organisations.
- Impact of funding it was clear from the evidence submitted that where it was available national funding made a huge impact on the ability for local areas to be able to deliver and sometimes sustain programmes focused on improving participation and activity rates in women and girls. This in turn improved outcomes for beneficiaries of the programmes.
- However, the responses showed a fragmented picture with different funding pots available from different Government departments, charities, NGBs for sports and arm’s length bodies. Many funding pots were time limited. Funding applications could be onerous and complicated and capacity issues affected respondents ability to apply.
- Local level funding tended to come from council public health teams, social prescribing budgets and philanthropic funding.
Without the assistance of the Sport England funding into JU:MP the resources available within Bradford Council would have made delivery of these projects almost impossible.” - Bradford City Council
Opening Schools Facilities (OSF) funding, Active Humber link the Girls Carousel work to OSF and work with schools to offer sessions specifically for these girls. Academic year 24/25 we will be piloting some peer mentoring in selected schools with the girls that have been part of the carousel for other girls in lower year groups. The girls carousel events have influenced schools OSF investment into school gyms and providing on site spaces for them to continue to be active after the girls carousel events, and being able to support other students who don’t get the opportunities to attend girls carousel events, but need additional support to be physically active.” - Active Humber
Using Sport England This Girl Can funding, we launched a LLR Girls Can in the Community small grants and funded 21 organisations across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland to start a new or to sustain a physical activity programme for women and girls. This led to 930 expected participants benefiting from a new / sustained physical activity offer. 19 groups (90 per cent directly supporting those with living with a long-term health condition. 12 groups (57 per cent) directly supporting those from EDC. 16 groups (76 per cent) directly supporting those from LSEG. Just one example of how grant funding can make a huge difference to local communities. This funding also helped to pay for the My Active Menopause sessions, which supported 55 previously inactive women to get active, and kick-started four new menopause offers locally.” - Active together Leicester Rutland
Since receiving philanthropic funding to set up a dedicated women and girls Officer role we have taken our Women’s and Girls participants from 125 to a total of 621 in just over 18 months.” - Bath City FC
We have worked with charities on this project to access Awards for all funding.” - Black girls hike
The Physical Activity Social Prescribing project was funded by Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council, through the Contain Outbreak Management fund.” - Bristol COMF/Westport
The Physical Activity Social Prescribing project was funded by Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council, through the Contain Outbreak Management fund.” - Bristol COMF/Westport
The Physical Activity Social Prescribing project was funded by Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council, through the Contain Outbreak Management fund.” - Bristol COMF/Westport
London Borough of Tower Hamlets does not receive direct funding from the Government and other national organisations for this area of service delivery. Any other organisations and local partners that are in receipt of such funding are not obligated to inform or feedback on the impact/value. However, there is a local grants programme designed to improve participation levels in Tower Hamlets.” - London Borough of Tower Hamlets
- Improved outcomes evidence submitted from respondents showed positive outcomes from women and girls who had engaged in a programme to be more active.
- Highlights show significant increases in participation levels and being active, over the longer term as well as wider benefits such as improved health and wellbeing and weight loss. This suggests that investing in programmes that are designed to meets the needs of women and girls can have profound effects. Examples include:
There is an increase in the number of women and girls participating in physical activity. Women and girls are more likely to go to an activity with a friend and if they have heard about it from a friend. It is likely that once they have attended sessions regularly they are more likely to try other types of exercise independently.” - Sunderland City Council
Evidence from the Flourish programme, Hampshire County Council
- Over 800 applicants.
- Supported over 170 people through the courses so far.
- Average course rating ninety-two per cent.
- Ninety-nine per cent of participants would recommend the course to a friend.
- Eighty-seven per cent of participants lost weight.
- Seventy-five per cent increased their activity levels.
- Sixty-seven per cent opted to continue with us at Horizon.
- Ninety-eight per cent improved their Health and Wellbeing.
Moving Communities (swimming pool support fund): Reporting data via Moving Communities is showing that at sites in receipt of the [Swimming Pool Support] funding, which included over 260 local authorities, 55 per cent of participants are female. This is in line with the wider MC portfolio. Of the visits at those sites that are for swimming activities, 58 per cent of swimming participants are female. Of the visits at those sites that are for swimming lessons, 51 per cent are female. Data on Moving Communities shows 50 per cent of participants attending the gym are female, whereas 81 per cent of participants taking part in group exercise are female. Furthermore, Data on Moving Communities shows 47 per cent of participants completing activities in the sports hall are female, whereas 30 per cent of participants taking part in outdoor activities at leisure centres (usually 3G based) are female.
Return of investment where it is available, data shows that there are positive results from investment in programmes which support women and girls to be active. The benefits of this are increased levels of physical activity and participation which can in turn have positive benefits for their physical and mental wellbeing and increase confidence and social connectedness.
- However, at a local level it is uncommon for the programme evaluation to show quantifiable long-term impacts on the activity levels of women and girls. Responses usually indicate improved participation, but there is not accompanying data provided. This may be a result of the short-term ad hoc funding.
- Data on the return on investment at local level largely relies on anecdotal evidence surrounding continued participation. There are however, some examples of national organisations who have invested in more robust evaluation to create data sets or a better understanding of the issue and the return in investment.
National and local level data
- There are examples of successful data capture, but this is not widely applied nor are insights routinely shared locally across wider organisations and councils. Notably it was felt that the national data available was inadequate due to its narrow focus on certain criteria and small samples which did not allow for it to be meaningfully interrogated at local level.
- Evidence was submitted around local approaches to filling the gaps in data (where funding existed to do so) and approaches from national organisations, which is encouraging but does highlight the need for a more systematic approach at a national level to data capture and sharing to ensure all areas have access to high quality data to be able to make progress in this area. Some examples demonstrating the breadth of approaches in data collection include:
There are 25 Active Through Football projects taking place across England…The football foundation has also provided us with login to a data platform called upshot to keep our data in one place. This has proved highly effective as along with registers we can create surveys, load interactive maps, and collate reports in a simple and time effective manner.” - Enfield Borough Council
National datasets and local consultation provide a good picture of what’s happening locally.” - Worcestershire County Council
Throughout the evaluation we used the social prescribing minimum dataset to gather evidence of individual outcomes using ONS 4 wellbeing scores on initial consultation, last support session and 12 week post intervention.” - Bristol COMF/Westport
Youth Sport Trust have undertaken an annual survey, through our Girls Active programme for the benefit of schools engaged in the programme, but also to provide a national dataset to understand the barriers, motivations and perceptions of girls in relation to PE, school sport and physical activity.” - Youth Support Trust
Datasets and gaps in data
- It was clear from the evidence submitted that better data would help council’s and wider organisations to better to understand inequalities and where to target resources. Examples of areas that would benefit from datasets included:
- qualitative data on those experiencing perimenopause and menopause and their activity levels.
- Children’s physical activity levels which are not routinely captured nationally in the way that we have the National Child Measurement Programme which would help councils to understand inequalities and where to target resources.
- More ward level data on activity levels within districts so targeted work can take place.
- Girls' participation levels and views in year four, six and nine.
- Participation level of girls/women across BAME communities.
- Local leisure service data (i.e. the uptake of sports such as women’s cricket).
- Better understanding of other population characteristics that intersect with sex/gender to inform the uptake of opportunities or access to opportunities around activity.
- Better understanding of the characteristics of formal leisure service users.
- The Active Lives Survey was deemed inadequate due to small sample sizes that in some cases meant that data could not be drawn for specific groups this was flagged as a recent issue for children and young people data in North West Leicestershire.
- Another respondent evidenced the discrepancy of the Active Lives data further at national and local level. “Unfortunately Sport England Active Lives data currently shows the gender activity gap sits at around five per cent for adults and seven per cent in children. In Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire, the gender gap between secondary aged pupils rises to 13 per cent.”
Next steps
The findings of the call for evidence will be used to develop lobbying proposals, which we will use to inform our offer to the Government to support its delivery of its missions. Case studies have also been developed from this call for evidence and are available on our new physical activity hub. Over the two-year lifespan of this project, we will continue to develop support materials for councils as they develop their offer for less active groups in their communities.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the councils and wider organisations that responded to the call for evidence and submitted case studies. While we couldn’t feature quotes in this report from everyone that submitted evidence, we will continue to use the evidence provided to support and inform our future work.
Active Humber
Active Partnerships, Derby and Nottinghamshire
Active Partnerships, Derby and Nottinghamshire
Active Together, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland
APSE
Bath City Football Club Foundation
Black Girls Hike
Bradford Metropolitain District Council
Bradford Institute for Health Research
British Wrestling
Calthorpe Wellbeing Hub
Cheshire West and Chester Council
Dragonfly Leisure
Enfield Council
Forestry England
Hampshire County Council
Horsham District Council
Isobel Parkes, Graduate Trainee, Local Government Association (contributing author)
Keep Britain Tidy
Lambeth Council
LEAP Milton Keynes
London Sport
Manchester City Council
Michelle Pickford, Assistant Analyst , Local Government Association (Research)
Make Space for Girls
Moving Communities
National Trust
North West Leicestershire District Council
Nottingham City Council
Palmer Park, GLL
Portsmouth City Council
Radcliffe School
Rossendale Borough Council
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Samantha Ramanah, Adviser – sport, physical activity, leisure and parks, Local Government Association (lead author)
Spirit of 2012
Sporting Equals
Stevenage Borough Council
Street Games
Sunderland City Council
Think Active
This Girl Can
Tower Hamlets Council
Trafford Council
ukactive
University of Leeds
Wakefield Council
Wesport, Bristol City Council
Women and Equalities Committee
Worcestershire County Council
Youth Sport Trust
Resources
Active Friends, North West Leicestershire District Council
Active Menopause, North West Leicestershire District Council
Frickley Women's football, Wakefield Council
Future female leaders programme, Sporting Equals
Gender-sensitive greenspace development: a co-designed approach with adolescent girls in Bradford
Girls Active, co-created and co-delivered by Active Partners Trust
Girls Powered Greater Manchester leadership, Sporting Equals
Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Girls Can
Lets Get Moving Awards, North West Leicestershire District Council
Let's get moving: step into fitness, North West Leicestershire District Council
Pit to Pitch - Celebrating culture with sport, Wakefield Council
Pre- and post- natal physical activity, North West Leicestershire District Council
Public Health Community grants programme, Worcestershire County Council
Right to the streets project - Traffod Council
Safer Parks - Research and Guidance
Sunderland active through football, Sunderland City Council
Supporting a single mother to find time to look after herself, Bristol City Council
Supporting young girls into football, London Borough of Enfield
Supporting women and girls to be more active, Manchester City Council
Supporting women to be more active, Cheshire West and Chester Council
Swim for Confidence, Nottingham City Council and This Girl Can
The Legacy Project: Empowering Women in Wrestling, British Wrestling
This Girl Can, North West Leicestershire District Council
This Girl Can, Stevenage Borough Council
UEFA Women’s 2022 legacy, Trafford Council
'Women and girls find your…' campaign, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Women and Girls programme at Palmer Park
Girls Active National Reports, Youth Sport Trust
Harnessing culture and sport to deliver social prescribing and improve health outcomes
Identifying additional financing options for public sport and leisure services
Reaching the less active: A guide for public sport and leisure services
Securing the Future of Public Sport and Leisure Services: A report on behalf of APSE, LGA, CLOA
Sport and leisure: promoting health and wellbeing through public services
Supporting youth in low-income neighbourhoods stay active through sport
Appendix A
Of the local authorities which submitted evidence and/ or case studies, the regional balance was as follows:
| East midlands | 2 |
| East of England | 1 |
| London | 3 |
| North east | 2 |
| North west | 3 |
| South east | 2 |
| South west | 1 |
| West midlands | 1 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 2 |
The breakdown by type of council is as follows:
| Council type | Number |
| County council | 2 |
| District council | 4 |
| London borough council | 3 |
| Metropolitan district council | 5 |
| Unitary authority | 3 |
Appendix B
Response template – LGA Call for evidence - Supporting women and girls to be active
Thank you for responding to the Local Government Association’s call for evidence on supporting women and girls to be active. From hyper local interventions to shaking up the system, we want to hear about how your organisation is effectively tackling inactivity and low participation levels in girls and women.
This will enable us to share effective practice with others and to share the challenges and potential solutions with Government and other stakeholders.
The call for evidence closes on 12 April 2024. Queries and completed forms to be sent to Samantha Ramanah, Adviser, Local Government Association [email protected]
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Name of project: Name and email details of person submitting: |
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What’s working? |
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Examples of evidence sought |
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Evidence demonstrating the interventions and approaches that are effectively supporting women and girls to move more. |
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Personal quotes that demonstrate the impact interventions have had. |
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Other information |
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What’s not working? |
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Examples of evidence sought |
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What are the barriers stopping women and girls from being physically active in your area? |
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What is preventing councils and local organisations from delivering on this agenda? |
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Other information |
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What needs to change? |
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Examples of evidence sought |
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What do local areas need to be able to deliver on this agenda? (i.e. resources, system changes, other) |
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What changes need to happen at national level to drive progress? |
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Other information |
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What is the data telling us? |
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Examples of evidence sought |
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Evidence showing the impact funding from the Government and other national organisations is having on women and girls activity and participation levels in your area. |
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Evidence of the return in investment. |
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Are there any national and local datasets that are not available that would help councils to progress this work? |
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Other information |
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