The research forced us to confront something important: if women don’t feel safe, they won’t feel free; and if they don’t feel free, their participation will always be limited.
When we spoke to operators across the sector, there was no denial of the issue. To our delight, there was a huge amount of willingness to act, although there was also some uncertainty on how to do it.
Because how do you tackle something as serious as sexual harassment in a way that is meaningful, proportionate and practical? How do you communicate about safety without inadvertently making people feel more anxious?
That tension became the starting point for Safer Spaces to Move.
I want to make something very clear – this was never about calling out the sector, instead it was about supporting it.
We worked with organisations like CIMSPA and Women’s Aid to make sure any guidance we developed was grounded in expertise, legally robust, survivor-informed and realistic for busy gym environments.
One of the biggest lessons that we learnt along the way was that policies alone don’t change experiences. Culture does.
Helping positive change
You can have all the right procedures written down, but if the members of your staff don’t feel confident using them, or members don’t know they exist, their impact is significantly limited.
That’s why the most recent phase of the project, which we've launched earlier this week, has focused heavily on communication and culture, which made us consider questions like: how is safety talked about in our gyms, clubs and sport and physical activity centres? How are expectations set in these environments? Do members understand how to report an incident and trust that it will be taken seriously? And how are staff trained to respond?
We also tested messaging with women who use gyms and then sense-checked it with operators on the ground.
We went back and forth, refining language and practical steps so that what we produced didn’t feel alarmist or theoretical, but usable and reassuring. This is because our work isn’t about amplifying fear. It’s about building confidence.
On International Women’s Day, we often talk about breaking barriers.
Sometimes those barriers are structural; sometimes social and sometimes they’re the quiet assessment and security checks women make in their heads when entering a new physical activity space: "Is anyone watching me too closely? Are there other women around here? Can I do this exercise without feeling on display? Will staff step in if something happens?"
I think if we’re truly serious about closing the gender activity gap, we have to address all of these.
Safer Spaces to Move is part of our response to these barriers and sits alongside everything This Girl Can stands for: visibility, confidence and the right to take up space. Not just in theory, but in practice as well.
Because progress for our sector isn’t just about encouraging more women through the door.
It’s about making sure that when they walk in, they feel they belong there – fully and safely, and that’s something worth committing to this International Women’s Day and every day, before or after.
