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Enjoyed talking about the impact of Covid-19 on women& #39;s sport, including the dominance of men& #39;s sport & visibility at today& #39;s @CommonsDCMS among other issues. Some follow up thoughts on where we see challenges & opportunities on this particular topic
On women& #39;s activity levels - v important to note that pre Covid, more women than ever were active across England. Over the past year numbers up 200k and overall in recent years supported by our campaign @ThisGirlCanUK numbers up 500k and the gender gap consistently down.
Not to say there aren& #39;t challenges - gender gap persists & girls consistently less active than boys but coming from a place of growth. Same true of elite sport - 2019 exposure - World Cups in Netball, Football & Cricket - massive & visibility does matter to growth & numbers
We& #39;ve been tracking activity levels during Covid via @OKeefeLisa & team & women& #39;s activity on downward trend - at its worst 10% gender gap. All usual barriers exacerbated.Research from @Womeninsport_uk bear out that the amplifying of gender stereotypical roles has made it worse
Interestingly GIRLS activity is UP during lockdown and they& #39;re doing more than boys. Partly we think this is bc of boys& #39; reliance on team sport but sharp reminder that if you empower girls to do activity they want to do & not offer the same old, it works!
On elite sport- invisibility has been widely commented on but to me this perfectly tells the story of women& #39;s sport. Things improving massively but we are decades behind & at a time when resources & investment are needed to get pro sport back,historical underinvestment is biting
