This Girl Can is Sport England's nationwide campaign to get women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size and ability.
Research reveals a huge difference in the number of men and women playing sport. And it's not because females don't want to get active. Millions of women and girls are afraid to exercise because of fear of judgement.
SE responded by creating the groundbreaking This Girl Can campaign. It is the first campaign of its kind to feature women who sweat and jiggle as they exercise. It seeks to tell the real story of women who play sport by using images that are the complete opposite of the idealised and stylised images of women we're now used to seeing.
The campaign has clearly captured a nerve: 13 million people have now viewed the flagship This Girl Can film online.
The campaign doesn’t hold back in trying to encourage women to beat their barriers. "Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox" and "I kick balls, deal with it" are among the hard-hitting lines used in the campaign to prompt a change in attitudes and help boost women’s confidence.
It comes as research reveals that at by every measure, fewer women than men play sport regularly – two million fewer 14-40 year olds in total. Despite this, 75 per cent say they want to be more active. In some other European countries, this disparity doesn’t exist.
Further research into what's stopping women turning their ambitions into reality found that a fear of judgement – on appearance, ability or how they chose to spend time on themselves – puts women of all ages off exercising.
The findings were the driving force behind the campaign’s creation, which aims to empower women and encourage more to get active.
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