Campaign urges more women to get active

Sport England has launched a new multi-million pound, national campaign This Girl Can to encourage more women to take up exercise.

The campaign comes as research, carried out by Sport England, reveals that women are less likely to become active because of body image and competency fears, with two million fewer women than men in the 14-40 age range regularly participating in sport.

The research also found that in other European countries there is no difference in the number of men versus women who participate in sport, and that in England, 75% of women said they wanted to be more active.

This Girl Can will be visible across prime time TV advertising, billboards, cinema and shopping centre screens and social media and will use images that portray ‘real’ women who exercise and play sport to keep fit. Using slogans including ‘Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox’ and ‘I kick balls, deal with it’, the campaign is designed to celebrate active women, regardless of their shape, size and how they look when they’re working out.

Commenting on the campaign, Jennie Price, chief executive, Sport England said: "Before we began this campaign, we looked very carefully at what women were saying about why they felt sport and exercise was not for them.

"This campaign says it really doesn't matter if you are a bit rubbish or completely brilliant.

"The main thing is that you are a woman and you are doing something, and that deserves to be celebrated."