Shared Partnership Purpose
To make physical activity more inclusive, Women in Sport and Vitality will work together to share and develop our foundational knowledge of women, health, wellbeing and behaviour change. With our partners we will empower and inspire women to prioritise their own health and happiness. Together, we are determined to close the gender play gap.
We will be working with Vitality to build our foundational understanding of women in middle age, 40-60 years old, the challenges they face to their health and wellbeing and how this impacts their relationship to sport and physical activity. We will be holding a range of immersion sessions and online workshops with rights holders and experts in the field to outline the challenges faced, identify opportunities and develop solutions. We will then engage with the wider sector in distributing our learnings, ideas and recommendations to make the changes needed to help women #KeepUpThePace.
Background Research
Lockdown Research – Implications for Participation, June 2020
Vitality #KeepUpthePace Campaign
The Challenge
Whilst many people are exhibiting positive behaviour changes during lockdown and post-lockdown, it has been hard for women to stay active with their added household and family responsibility.
The Evidence
The gender ‘play’ gap that existed pre-lockdown has only been exacerbated by the crisis – only 32% of women could prioritise during exercise*. Women in Sport and our sponsorship partners have warned that the lack of visible elite women’s sport could have a detrimental impact on inspiring girls and women to participate.
Vitality’s Role
As a long-term supporter of women’s sport, and a brand with participation at its heart, Vitality has an authentic role to play in addressing this.
#KeepUpthePace
We will harness the power of elite sportswomen to celebrate and motivate women, encouraging them to start and keep participating and, in doing so, keep inspiring the communities around them.
*Women in Sport – Lockdown Research – Implications for Participation 2020.