The VicHealth evaluation found that time, cost, location and transport are the main barriers to participation, particularly for people not currently involved in sport. Therefore, sports need to consider ways to overcome or work around these barriers. They can:
- Get input from females when designing sport programs.
- Change program/competition times to meet women’s needs.
- Ensure programs/competitions are close to public transport.
Programming your activities to better meet the needs of women is a great way to encourage participation.
To learn more about the specific barriers that women face across different life stages, check out the VicHealth Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity snapshots (pages 3-5) and research into five life stages that give insights for engaging Victorians in physical activity.
This Girl Can – Victoria
In 2015, Sport England launched a game-changing campaign to empower women to become more physically active – regardless of their ability or body shape. It inspired a massive 2.8 million women to try (or get back into) fitness and sport. After seeing the success of that campaign, VicHealth was determined to do the same for the women of Victoria. That’s why 2018 will see the launch of the This Girl Can – Victoria campaign: a mass media, large-scale investment to smash the barriers (real or perceived) that stop women and girls in our community from getting involved. It’s a celebration of women doing their thing and being active – no matter how well they do it, how they look or how long it takes. This Girl Can – Victoria supports gender equality by challenging traditional gender roles (sporty and active as male traits) and by celebrating women who are fit and strong.
This Girl Can - Celebrating all kinds of active
Helping Women & Girls Get Active
VicHealth have developed a helpful guide to for all sporting organisations looking to design programs for inactive women and girls. The Helping Women & Girls Get Active resource outlines four key strategies that can have a big impact on participation for women, and some ways your organisation can start – or keep doing – each one. You’ll be able to introduce most of these quickly, easily and with little cost.