This Girl Can goes global

Our initial three-year partnership with VicHealth will see the world’s first health promotion foundation adopt This Girl Can’s groundbreaking formula of showing real women and girls playing sport and getting active.

The aim is to help others in the state of Victoria, which includes the city of Melbourne, overcome the fear of judgement that holds many back – and achieve similar success to the original campaign that has inspired 2.8 million more women to get active to date.

Current state of play

Currently, three in five Australian women (60 per cent) are not sufficiently active, taking part in less than 30 minutes of physical activity on four or more days a week. One in five women doing no physical activity in a typical week, according to VicHealth research.

The research found that the fear of judgment is widespread in Victoria, with 41 per cent of Victoria women aged over 25 and over being too embarrassed to exercise in public and almost half finding sports clubs intimidating.

VicHealth is hoping to use the This Girl Can formula to help women overcome this fear and get active in any way that suits them.

Inspiring women

Over the next six months, VicHealth will source and share stories of Victoria women getting active via social media and a dedicated website. A mobile Story Pod will also visit sites across the state.

In early 2018, it will launch its full This Girl Can campaign, including an all-new TV ad featuring real Victoria women as well as online advertising, posters, radio and social media.

VicHealth will work with a range of sports and organisations to amplify the campaign and reach as many Victoria women as possible.

“Australian women face the same barriers to being active as English women – whether that’s worrying about how they look when they exercise, that they aren’t skilled enough to exercise or that they should be prioritising their family or work over activities,” says our chief executive, Jennie Price.

“Using the insight we have gained over the last two years from women across England, we want to take This Girl Can international, with the ultimate goal being that girls will grow up in a world where there is no fear of being active. This partnership is an important step forward.”

Big ambitions

VicHealth CEO, Jerril Rechter, also has big ambitions, saying: “We want to see this campaign inspire women to smash old-fashioned stereotypes about what women can and can’t do in sport, in the gym and in their neighborhoods.

“We’ll be celebrating active Victorian women who are doing their thing no matter how they look, how well they do it, or how sweaty they get.”

Further information

• Find out more about the world's first health promotion foundation, VicHealth
• Watch Phenomenal Woman – our latest This Girl Can advert
• Follow This Girl Can Vic on Twitter
• Join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #ThisGirlCanVIC