Last chance to apply for Active Women funding

Sport England’s chairman, Richard Lewis, has urged sports projects not to miss this week’s Active Women funding programme deadline.

Applications to the fund – which will invest in projects and programmes targeting women from disadvantaged communities and women caring for children under 16 – must be received by 5pm on Wednesday 3 February 2010.

“This is a real chance to create new opportunities for women whose circumstances make it more difficult or less appealing for them to play sport,” said Richard. “I am calling on all community groups and sectors, especially those who work with these women but who may not have considered applying for sports funding before, to submit relevant applications for high quality projects."

Currently, only one in eight women in England play sport regularly (three times a week), according to our Active People Survey. Although numbers are increasing, women's participation still lags behind men's (one in five) and the gap between the two genders is increasing.

The same research also shows that women from disadvantaged communities play even less sport, with just one in 10 taking part regularly.

Active Women aims to help change this. We are seeking bids from projects that directly address the challenges women have to overcome if they want to play more sport. These include:

• Time constraints
• Childcare
• Transport
• Cost
• Friends to go with
• Self-confidence

You can find out more information about the programme and the criteria we will use to assess all application in our funding section. Applications should be made online via our Investment Centre.