Sport England aiming to improve young females enjoyment of physical activity

From the Lionesses’ history-making European championship win at Wembley, to record-breaking viewing figures for all-female boxing cards, 2022 was another significant year in the rise of women’s sport, both domestically and globally.

Although the progress made in women’s sport has been monumental, it’s worth remembering there is more to physical activity than just sport and that successes at an elite level can often perpetuate the idea that it’s only for “sporty types”, something that new research has highlighted stems from early experiences in PE.

Indeed, as 40% of English women say PE in school made it difficult for them to be excited about physical activity in later life and over a third (36%) were put off sport for life, This Girl Can is calling for our approach to PE to expand beyond the traditional confines of sport.

It comes as a new study from Hopscotch Consulting, the agency behind Studio You, shows nearly half of women in England (47%) didn’t enjoy PE activities compared to only 26% of men, with a further 37% saying they had a negative experience in PE opposed to just a fifth (20%) of men.

Aston spoke to Claire Edwards from This Girl Can.

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