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As part of my role at Sport England I’m in Birmingham for the IWG Global Summit and I can’t wait to see what these three days will teach us.

Every four years, the summit brings together people from across the world who are passionate about helping more women and girls enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

The event is a chance to share ideas, challenge assumptions, celebrate progress and, perhaps most importantly, learn from one another.

Time to talk, to listen and to learn

At Sport England, our mission is to help more people improve their lives through sport and physical activity and, by investing National Lottery funding, we work with partners, places and communities across the country to tackle the barriers that prevent people from being active.

This year the summit has been supported by £920k of National Lottery money, helping us – once again – to support great causes to help improve lives and communities across the country.

Our award-winning campaign This Girl Can is one part of that wider work.

Over the 11 years since we launched our first TV spot, we’ve learned a huge amount about helping more women and girls move in ways that feel right for them.

But we also know we don’t have all the answers, so that’s exactly why opportunities like this to gather, discuss and learn from one another matter so much.

As part of Sport England’s contribution to the summit, I’ll be speaking alongside my Sport England colleague Kate Peers, Claire Norman from Active Wellbeing Society and Maxine Mills-Smith from Dolphin Women’s Centre.

Together we’ll be sharing the story of This Girl Can, not simply by celebrating what the campaign has achieved but by exploring the practical lessons behind it, because lasting change has never been about advertising alone.

Our work is about combining insight, investment, trusted partnerships and local communities to create opportunities that genuinely work for people.

This Girl Can is one expression of that holistic approach: a campaign shaped by the women it’s there to serve, and one that's brought to life by the organisations and communities who make meaningful improvements in people’s everyday lives.

In this amazing job, we've also learnt that the best ideas rarely stay where they’re born –  instead, they evolve and they grow because people share them, question them, reshape them and bring them to life in their own communities.

Ultimately, the greatest success isn’t about replication – it’s when an idea becomes so rooted in a place that people forget it ever came from somewhere else.

Growing together

That’s the conversation I hope we’ll contribute to in Birmingham.

I want us to discuss moving from awareness to action, how to turn insight into local change, and how we create environments where more women and girls feel that they belong.

So I’m just as excited to spend time listening as I am speaking.

Every country has its own stories, innovations and hard-won lessons, and gatherings like this remind us that none of us have all the answers.

The opportunity to hear different perspectives, discover new approaches and bring fresh ideas home is every bit as valuable as taking to the stage.

It will also be wonderful to catch up with friends and former colleagues who have helped make this summit happen, and with many of the people who were there in the early days of This Girl Can.

Because campaigns like ours are never built by one person or one organisation – they’re the product of years of collaboration, imagination and determination of many amazing individuals who come together to create something bigger, brighter and better than what we could have achieved individually. And I love it.

Celebrating our gains...

The timing feels significant too.

We’ve seen incredible progress for women and girls in sport over the last decade and (thankfully!) conversations have changed, representation has improved and more women are finding activities they enjoy and places where they feel they belong.

In fact We Like the Way You Move – the latest phase of This Girl Can – has focused on helping more women overcome fear of judgement and get active in ways that work for them.

Our research revealed some interesting points, including:

• over four million women have been inspired to get active since 2015 and 53% of women recognise the campaign
• 69% of women say it made physical activity feel more possible and 47% of women on lower incomes say it boosted their confidence
• among lower socio-economic group women who recognise the campaign, 76% say it increased understanding that even 10 minutes of activity brings immediate benefits, while 69% say it made activity feel possible and 37% say it prompted them to do more sport and exercise. 

But it’s not like we can say that progress isn’t inevitable ​and, around the world, many of the barriers that inspired This Girl Can still exist.

...while working on the future together

New challenges continue to emerge and we can’t assume the progress we’ve made will simply look after itself.

If anything, this is the moment to keep listening, keep learning and keep working together.

It feels fitting that the UK is hosting this year’s IWG Global Summit before the baton passes to Brazil in 2030.

The way I see it, welcoming colleagues from around the world is both a privilege and a reminder that no one country owns the answers – we all have something to contribute and we all have something to learn.

I’m looking forward to three days of ideas, conversations, practical inspiration and, hopefully, a renewed sense of what’s possible.

If you’re in Birmingham this week, please do come and say hello. I want to listen to you.

The week our latest Active Lives survey results come out is always one I look forward to, because it’s a chance to step back, look at the data and really understand what’s happening with volunteering in our sector.

With Volunteers’ Week here, I wanted to share a few reflections on the latest adults release – what it tells us about the state of volunteering right now and what it might mean for those of us working across sport and physical activity.

Volunteering levels are recovering – but not fully

The headline figure is encouraging: 10.9 million adults in England gave their time to support sport and physical activity in the 12 months between November 2024 and 2025. That’s an increase of nearly 400,000 compared to the previous year.

This recovery matters, because volunteers are the backbone of our sector and they create opportunities for people to be active in communities that boost wellbeing.

Volunteering in sport and physical activity also generates an estimated £8.6 billion in social value annually, and much of this worth comes from the wellbeing benefits individuals gain through volunteering.  

But we shouldn’t get carried away, because whilst we’re seeing recovery since the pandemic, we’re still not back to pre-Covid levels.  

Volunteering was already in decline before the pandemic and so even though numbers are improving, many clubs and organisations won’t necessarily feel that recovery on the ground.

What does this mean for the volunteer experience?

Fewer volunteers can mean more pressure on existing volunteers, and we hear consistently from partners and volunteers that workloads remain high.

Sport volunteers are incredibly committed – they step up, take on extra responsibilities and keep things running.

But this resilience can mask an ongoing risk of burnout, which became apparent during and after the pandemic and hasn’t yet gone away. If anything, it’s become part of their day-to-day reality.

That’s why it’s critical to focus not just on bringing new people into volunteering, but on improving the experience for those already involved.

Inequalities remain stubborn

The data also reinforces something we’ve known for a long time: volunteering is not accessible to everyone.

People from lower socio-economic backgrounds, disabled adults and those with long-term health conditions remain underrepresented.

This mirrors patterns we see in participation more broadly and won’t change without deliberate action.

But if we’re serious about improving the diversity of our volunteer base then designing volunteer opportunities around lived experience, making them more flexible, inclusive and relevant is essential.  

A widening gender gap

One of the most striking trends this year is that men are driving the recent increases in volunteering.

Men now make up 62% of weekly volunteers – compared to 37% who are women – and the gap appears to be widening.

This raises an important question: are we genuinely reaching new audiences or are we relying on the same groups to do more?

This isn’t to take away from the positive recovery we’re seeing, but it does highlight that more needs to be done to ensure our volunteers are representative of the population.

What’s not working for women?

The gender imbalance is even more concerning alongside the wider context of women’s experiences in sport.

Women in Sport's research highlights issues such as misogyny and women feeling that their voices aren’t heard in coaching roles, and that practical factors like how voluntary roles are structured and whether they fit around people’s lives play a significant part in how accessible roles are to women.

Life stage matters too, as highlighted by our Life Cycles research, and Active Lives shows that while having children increases the likelihood of volunteering in sport overall, the effect is stronger for men.

This is because men with children are more likely to take on coaching or officiating roles while for women, caring responsibilities can be both an enabler and a barrier, particularly in leadership positions like refereeing and coaching.

So, what works?

To bring more women and other underrepresented groups into volunteering – and to deliver positive experiences  – we need to take a more intentional approach and be open to challenging the status quo.

This is a multi-layered challenge – it requires systemic and cultural change, tackling discrimination head-on and rethinking how roles are designed.

Flexibility, family-friendly approaches and clear pathways into leadership roles all make a difference and I can't recommend enough the wide breath of volunteering resources by Buddle, which provide support at every stage of the journey for sport and physical organisations – from help finding volunteers, to defining roles, ensuring wellbeing or building progression paths.

We must also remember that visibility matters – when people see relatable role models and examples of positive experiences, it helps them shift perceptions of who volunteering is for.

For instance, Black Girls Ruck demonstrate the power of community building and how, when done in an authentic way, it can challenge perceptions, give visibility and empower women currently underrepresented in a sport.

Women-led and targeted programmes, like those highlighted in the This Girl Can volunteering guide, show what’s possible when opportunities are designed with women in mind.

Where to next?

Volunteering is recovering, but we can’t rely on this recovery alone to solve the underlying challenges.

For a more sustainable and inclusive volunteer workforce, we need to focus on experience as much as numbers – supporting existing volunteers, reaching those currently underrepresented and creating environments where everyone can thrive.

And whilst acknowledging the scale of the challenge, we also want to take this moment in Volunteers’ Week to recognise and thank the millions of people who give up their time to help others.

Their contribution makes a huge difference to people and communities across the country, and we want to make that experience better for everyone.

As the usage of virtual spaces increases in all areas of our lives (including work, leisure or physical activity), it’s important to push for equity online too.

But with the backdrop of ongoing online abuse and discrimination, which inhibit participation in sport and physical activity, we’re rightly focused on the importance of creating safe virtual spaces too.

However, safety is only one side of the equation because we’ve also been asking ourselves how we can use technology to improve representation.

An example of this is We Like the Way You Move, the latest phase of our award-winning campaign, This Girl Can.

Technology for good

This phase has included a push for greater visibility of Black women – as well as other underrepresented groups of women – in imagery that promotes participation by sport and physical activity organisations.

This is how it’s worked: with the help of AI, we analysed publicly-available photos that came from parks, gyms, sports clubs, community centres, swimming pools and other leisure facilities across England and sourced via Google Maps, and confirmed that – alongside other minoritised groups of women – those who look like me have been virtually erased.

I’m excited that we’ve found a way to use the power of AI to drive better representation in our sector, because at a point when we’re all figuring out how to be more purposeful in how we use technology, finding insights that we can act on in real-time to contribute to change feels like a tangible win.

This push for greater visibility marks a positive shift that has come with our strategy’s focus on tackling inequalities as we’re working on reshaping our existing efforts to collaborate with different audiences and leaders through initiatives like TRARIIS.

Having celebrated the 10th anniversary of This Girl Can earlier this year, We Like the Way You Move has also used some powerful new imagery of women who have conventionally been excluded from the picture of sport and physical activity.

These are pictures full of joy and love for movement and, at times, I’d say you can almost hear the music they’re moving to.

These images are also a great reminder that women are creating their own platforms in communities, leading change and putting their unique stamp on activities and spaces.

We hope that they will help shift mindsets and that other organisations will follow suit.

On a personal note, it’s wonderful to see references to Caribbean culture, dance and movement in the mix.

It really does make a difference to my motivation and sense of belonging when I can see parts of my identity reflected back to me.

And I’m confident that the breadth of images and ways of moving captured in the campaign will have a similar impact on lots of other women that should have always been in the picture.

Movement has always been more than exercise for me.

My first motivation was staying healthy and trying to stave off hereditary diseases like hypertension and diabetes that run in my family (and, so far, I'm happy to say it has worked!).

But movement quickly became my outlet, my reminder that I am alive, capable and able to set goals.

The power of movement

When I lace up my trainers and step outside, I am not only moving my body. I am moving through history, community and identity, and I am claiming me. I do this for me.

This year the theme for Black History Month is ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’, highlighting the resilience and contributions of the Black community, and I am reminded that movement has long been a form of resistance, survival and celebration for Black people.

From dance to sport, movement has always been our way of claiming space, telling stories and showing strength and, for me, running is my chosen form of movement. It gives me freedom, resilience, and connection – three qualities that shape how I live and lead.

Growing up, I saw elite athletes who looked like me on TV, but I did not see everyday women like me running.

Running was not something I thought belonged to me as an adult (child me, yes, because children always run), but the first time I tried it outside as an adult, something shifted – it was not about speed or medals, it was about finding a rhythm that was mine.

Over the years, running has carried me through joy and pain.

It has helped me navigate life’s challenges, from grief and motherhood to menopause and leadership, and it has also changed how I see myself, not as the fastest or the best, but as someone who shows up, puts one foot in front of the other and keeps going.

Running has also shown me how much representation matters.

There have been times I felt invisible at races or out of place in running communities, but when I began sharing my story and weaving my Jamaican heritage into my running, I discovered others felt the same – and that, by stepping forward, I could help them feel seen.

Showing the real deal

That is why I am proud to be part of the advisory board for This Girl Can.

For the Phase Six of the campaign, we have focused on showing women as they truly are: sweaty, busy, imperfect and joyful.

Not polished versions of women exercising effortlessly, but showing real women making time for movement in the midst of their busy lives.

Being on the advisory board has given me the chance to share my perspective, especially around the barriers that Black women face in sport.

From worries about hair care, to feeling unsafe in certain spaces, to simply not seeing ourselves represented, these are real issues that stop many of us from moving freely.

Phase Six is about breaking those barriers down and telling a wider story of who belongs in movement.

This new stage of the campaign is also about making sure that when women see the campaign, they see someone who looks like them, lives like them and feels like them. Because when you can see yourself, you start to believe you belong.

From local to national

In 2019, I founded Black Girls Do Run UK.

What began as a small idea, creating space for a handful of Black women to run together, has grown into a nationwide community, because we are more than a running group. We are a family!

We celebrate milestones, we share struggles and, more than anything, we create spaces where Black women can move without judgement or stereotype.

Alongside leading the community, I hold both the Leadership in Running Fitness and Coaching in Running Fitness qualifications.

These have allowed me to support runners of all abilities, from beginners to those chasing big milestones, and to bring structured, safe and inclusive coaching into our spaces.

For us, running is not about chasing times, and all about creating a memory bank, not metrics.

It is about laughing mid-race, stopping for photos and supporting each other at the back of the pack. It is about belonging.

Together in strength

Black Girls Do Run UK exists because representation matters.

Too often, Black women are absent from the imagery of running, but by showing up in our kit at races and online, we are rewriting that narrative. We are saying we are here, we run and we belong!

For me, movement is freedom. It is the freedom to be myself, to take up space and to live well in my body and during Black History Month, that freedom feels especially powerful.

We honour the struggles of those before us, celebrate the present and move with hope for those who will come after because movement connects past, present and future.

It reminds us that while the barriers are real, so is our resilience, and it proves that when women move, communities move and change becomes possible.

So this Black History Month, I celebrate movement in all its forms: the steps, the strides, the miles and the memories. Movement has shaped me, and I will keep moving, for myself, for my community, and for the generations yet to come.

There are nearly 15 million young people in the UK under the age of 18. That’s more than a fifth of our entire population. So with almost 30% of us under the age of 24, that’s why it’s so relevant to highlight that today we get to celebrate International Youth Day.

Today is a day that highlights the challenges and opportunities faced by young people and, perhaps more importantly, it's a day that honours their contributions to society and that raises awareness of how meaningful youth engagement can build a better future.

This is something that we are passionate about, and collectively championing and advocating for across the sport and physical activity sector.

We want to encourage and support organisations across the sector to put young people first and to incorporate their voices into their practice – not just as beneficiaries or recipients, but as active, empowered agents of change.

Young people have a right to have their voices heard and acted upon in all matters affecting them – this is the starting point to creating positive experiences of being active and of building a positive, meaningful lifelong relationship with movement.

Celebrating young people’s contribution

So, in the spirit of celebrating young people’s contributions, I wanted to take this opportunity to mark their day by sharing just some of the many examples of great work happening across the sector where young people are being supported to lead the way.

As part of the Go! London Fund – set up to reduce barriers to being active that young people in the capital face and to tackle social and economic inequalities – Sport England have worked in partnership with the Mayor of London, London Marathon Foundation, London Sport, London Marathon Events and the School for Social Entrepreneurs to support two cohorts of young entrepreneurs to grow their own sport and physical activity-based enterprises.

These cover fitness, swimming, football, cycling dance and more – all making a difference to young people in their communities.

Teenage girls have also been central to co-creating the new Studio You x Nike hub – a series of inclusive new video content for school PE lessons, teaching a variety of non-competitive activities like yoga, dance and strength training to ensure no girl is left behind in PE. 

Through in-person co-creation and online focus groups, girls chose everything from lesson duration and visual design, to their instructors.

One of the young people involved in the co-design process said that it felt “really good” to know that her voice was being heard and that it felt as if she was doing a service for the teenage girls who struggle with confidence and participation in PE. 

Also, through our Place Partnerships, there are some great examples of young people playing an active role in shaping the direction of work in their communities.

In Southampton, young people have created an evidence-informed model for embedding youth voice into decision-making processes; in Hull, young people have been sharing their views on barriers, perceptions and the future of physical activity; and in Bradford, young people have been leading the way to shape the development of their green spaces.

I’d also recommend taking a look at the Voice Opportunity Power toolkit if you’re interested in ways to involve young people in the design of their neighbourhoods.

To support the development of the government’s National Youth Strategy, a listening and co-design programme called Deliver You was launched in March this year.

It gathered views, feedback and ideas from more than 20,000 young people across England and we look forward to the publication of the strategy later in the year, which will set out a long-term vision for youth policy.

Some ways to get involved

Through the Play Their Way campaign, partners across the Children’s Coaching Collaborative (CCC) are working to create a movement of child-first coaches that put young people’s rights and voices at the heart of their thinking.

In fact, through the CCC, StreetGames are currently leading work to improve understanding of the range of youth voice work and resources available across the sector.

This is all with a view to maximising youth voice activity and supporting meaningful change across the sector.

They’d love to hear from partners working on youth voice activity and you’re invited to complete this short survey by the end of August.

Positive Experiences Collective – Patchwork Programme

Finally, if you’re interested in putting young people’s needs at the heart of your work and the principles of physical literacy into practice (a key and to-the-point explainer from the Youth Sport Trust), you can find out more about the Positive Experiences Collective and the Patchwork Programme.

The Positive Experiences Collective is open to all and exists to inspire more positive, meaningful experiences of movement for children and young people, embedding youth voice as a key enabler to help them build a lifelong relationship with physical activity.

At the centre of the Collective is the Patchwork Programme – a nine-month learning and leadership journey for 12 interdisciplinary teams.

The initiative is part accelerator and part leadership development, and it’s designed to embed physical literacy as a driving force for system change.

The next cohort of the Patchwork Programme is now open for applications until 5 September.

Final word to young people

I’d like to leave the final word to a young person who we heard from at the Sporting Communities Youth Innovation Conference in April this year, where we asked young people to tell us what is most important for us to share back with the sector to make sure that young people’s voices are heard.

They said: “Young people have the ability to speak out. Most don’t because they don’t think they have the authority to. That needs to change and be shown to young people.”

Let’s help them change that.

That’s why we’re dedicated to partnering with women who have invaluable knowledge and are already making strides in this arena – women whom other women trust and who are true role models for guidance, support and mentorship.

At the start of this year, we established two advisory panels, a Black women’s advisory panel and a South Asian Muslim women’s advisory panel to help us shape, support and steer the next phase of This Girl Can.

Promoting a true sense of belonging

By working with experts in their field, our aim is to ensure the voices of our women are front and centre of the campaign and that the campaign meaningfully connects with Black women and South Asian Muslim women.

I’m delighted to introduce our This Girl Can advisory panel members:

Black women’s advisory panel

• Sophia Brown, Founder, Bristol Steppin Sistas
• Carol Burrell, Project creator and leader, Swim Sista Swim and Reggarobics
• Debra Nelson, Special projects, Football Beyond Borders
• Karen Safo-Barnieh Olutogun, Co-Founder, Black Women On Wheels CIC (BWOW)
• Jennifer Thomas, Board member, UK Athletics and England Netball
• Tasha Thompson, Founder and trustee, Black Girls Do Run

South Asian Muslim women’s advisory panel

• Asma Ajaz-Ali, Head of participation and communities, Muslim Sports Foundation
• Asia Asghar, Active wellbeing officer and Campaign officer, Nottingham Muslim Women Network
• Yashmin Harun, Founder and Chair of Muslimah Sports Association and Frenfords and MSA WFC
• Sabeha Miah, Project manager, Cycle Sisters
• Farkhanda Muneer, Chair, An-Nisa Women’s Group
• Khadija Patel, Chairman of KRIMMZ Girls Youth Club 

The panels form part of the broader goals for the next phase of This Girl Can, which sees a concerted effort to reach all women, including those from underrepresented backgrounds, to get active.

This Girl Can’s new phase –  ‘Belonging Starts with Inclusion’ – seeks to reduce the barriers that exclude women from exercise by showing how women like them are getting active.

Only when our women are seen, heard and included can they genuinely feel a sense of belonging within the world of physical activity.

We want the campaign to deliver behaviour-change by celebrating all women and by working collaboratively with the organisations providing opportunities for women to get active, to ensure that we are collectively providing the conditions that women need to feel they belong in physical activity.

It’s together that we can create even more spaces and opportunities for our women to move in ways that are right for them and, ultimately, build a world of activity where every woman feels like they belong.  

Fast forward to 2025 and the barriers have shifted again.

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting women hard and those from lower-income backgrounds are being disproportionately affected.

Tackling new barriers to exercising

Our latest research, which we’ll be publishing at the end of the month, reveals a shocking reality - only one in ten women from lower-income households feel like they completely belong in the world of physical activity.

And for those from underrepresented communities – including Black women, Asian Muslim women, pregnant women, new mums and older women – that sense of exclusion is even more profound.

But the problem isn’t just money and time – it’s confidence, culture, representation and feeling like movement spaces weren’t made for them.

And while brands once scrambled to embrace diversity, we’re now seeing a roll-back of diversity, equality and inclusion programmes, with less investment in the work that actually shifts the dial.

That’s why the next phase of This Girl Can – Belonging Starts with Inclusion – is laser-focused on ensuring no woman is left behind.

It’s about reaching those who feel the furthest from sport and movement and making sure cost, confidence, social, structural or cultural barriers don’t stand in the way.

So we’re shifting the conversation once again. This time making sure that every woman, no matter her income, background or life stage, can see getting active as something for her.

This Girl Can has changed the game for the last decade, not just for advertising but for how brands talk to and represent women.

The campaign has set the benchmark, forcing the industry to rip up old marketing playbooks and to rewrite the rules on representation.

But now is not the time to slow down.

Despite the challenges in the cultural landscape, This Girl Can has a unique opportunity to be an influential voice, connecting with women who need it most and ensuring they feel seen, supported and inspired to move in a way that works for them.

This Girl Can isn’t just a campaign. It’s a movement. And as we step into the next decade, our mission is clear: if we want every woman to belong, inclusion must come first.

The rise of women’s football is one of the true success stories in women’s sport in recent years.

Arsenal generating crowds of 60,000 at the Emirates Stadium, fans lining the side of the pitch desperate to get a glimpse of their heroes and big brands signing up the likes of Leah Williamson and Lucy Bronze for major campaigns are no longer cases of exception in the sport. They are becoming the norm.

Accepting that even with its current success there is still a long way to go in women’s football, those of us working in other sports still have a lot to thank it for.

Normalising the regular discussion and debate of women in sport benefits everyone and in motorsport we are also reaping some of these.

Putting women behind the winning wheel

A year ago, when I took on the role of CEO at More than Equal – an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting talented female drivers and finding the first female Formula 1 world champion –  there were murmurings about the lack of women competing at all levels in motorsport, but those murmurings have now become a consistent debate and discussion.

Driven on by the progress of women in a range of other sports, a realisation is dawning in motorsport that as one of the world’s leading and only truly mixed-gender sports - ours is one of the few sports in which men and women can compete together - the lack of women on its grid is closing-off a world of opportunities to it.

But when the F1 Academy – a new all-female racing series – announced a partnership with global beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury last month, you could almost hear some pennies dropping about how motorsport could start to benefit commercially from having women competing at its higher levels.

Plus, motorsport has a growing female base.

F1 itself says that around 40% of its fans are women and girls, but when we asked that fanbase last year in a major piece of research what they thought about the sport’s efforts to support female drivers, we learned that they were largely dissatisfied.

So there’s now a greater motivation than ever to help grow this sport so that women and girls can play a fuller part.

At More than Equal we are focusing on supporting young female drivers early on in their careers.

This is because our early research told us that the major barriers blocking the progress of women and girls in the sport remained as they started to climb the ranks.

But thanks to the work I was able to do on the amazing This Girl Can campaign while I was with Sport England, I realised when I took this job that we had to build a true understanding of the barriers facing female drivers, just as This Girl Can worked hard to understand what was behind lower activity levels for women and girls – the ‘gender activity gap’.

Planning the change

Our research showed us that while motorsport is a tough sport for anyone to progress in – not least because it is terrifically expensive – women and girls faced a range of additional challenges from their male counterparts.

Those barriers include the tiny pool of female participants and lack of support early in the career of female drivers, therefore our focus became to help remove some of these.

We’re offering a driver development programme for some of the world’s highest potential female drivers, a programme that is not only relevant to their age but that is truly build with their gender in mind.

This is something that is not on offer in motorsport currently for young female drivers and we’re working with a range of partners to deliver it, with a goal of helping those drivers progress up the ladder towards Formula 1 – where we have not seen a woman compete for almost 50 years!

That lack of representation in the world’s largest mixed-gender sport is not good enough. There's also a lack of women racing in other major motorsport series like Formula E, Indycar, Nascar and, as I write this, there’s only one female driver in Formula 3.

So while we watch the ongoing progress of women’s football in this country, we too are driving our progress and that's thanks, in part, to the path they are laying before us.