Home News & Publications Research & publications Share Share Share Copy Link Copy Link Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Email How to get more women active A quick guide to research and practical solutions Neighbourhood & built systems 8 Mar 2023 Research and Publications Scroll down On This Page 2-minute crash course Potential market Research quotes (gyms, sports, council facilities) Step-by-step guide Share Share Share Copy Link Copy Link Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Email 2-minute crash course Potential market Research quotes (gyms, sports, council facilities) Step-by-step guide Share Share Share Copy Link Copy Link Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Email Trending now This Girl Can Week 2024 Title What gyms, sports clubs, councils and community activities can do to help more women become active. Body On this page:2-min crash coursePotential marketResearch quotes (gyms, sports, council facilities)Step-by-step guide Understand the obstacles As the video above demonstrates, unfortunately, This Girl Can – Victoria research shows there are a whole lot of obstacles that stop women getting active – often invisible to the rest of us!Luckily, we’ve summarised everything in this crash course that takes just 2-minutes to read. 2-minute crash course on our world-leading research Translation of research conducted in partnership with La Trobe University's Centre for Sport and Social ImpactMore than half the women in Victoria feel intimidated, shamed or judged while getting active, and this stops many women signing up to sports or activities.The below points outline the key things gyms, clubs, councils and community activity providers need to understand if they want more women to sign up. Important: You need to know this is not "women being paranoid" Title Unfortunately, the research revealed many stories about people openly judging women when they try to exercise, play sport or learn an activity. This tells us that judgement, often in the form of verbal abuse and harassment, is common, and it comes from everyone – women and men. So if we want more women to become active, we all have a part to play. Body Current realityPeople constantly judge women for their:Appearance: how they look (body size and shape, too big, small, sweaty, jiggly)Ability: how good they are at doing something (skill/fitness)Priorities: how they spend their time and putting others before themselves Key points to understand 1. Women are motivated by wanting to feel good: Destress‘Me-time’Have funFeel goodFeel energised 2. Don’t assume women want to lose weight Women get a lot of pressure from society to look a certain way, but that still doesn’t mean they always want to lose weightSee point 1 above 3. Weight loss as a motivator/focus causes more harm than good When we focus on weight loss, women often lose motivation and stop coming back in the long termSee points 1 and 2 above 4. Having a break is normal Women feel guilty when they take a break, but taking breaks is completely normal and expected!Make women feel great when they do show up, but let them know it’s ok if they don’t 5. Women will join in and keep coming back if they find something that feels right for them The more opportunities women have to try something new, the more likely they are to find something they likeWomen want to start at an appropriate level for their skill/fitness 6. Other people can make or break things This includes all actions and words from:Staff (especially reception staff)VolunteersInstructorsCoachesOther participants or team members 7. Women want to feel like they fit in Not only do the actions of other people matter, meeting new people or spending time being active with friends is often a big motivationIf women ‘find their tribe’ and feel like they belong, they are more likely to keep coming back 8. Women want to feel safe and don’t want to feel exposed to onlookers It’s important to think about:Lighting and safe access to and from a placeThe layout of a space (e.g. privacy screens/partitions) Body These are the latest themes translated from the body of research behind VicHealth's This Girl Can – Victoria campaign. There are more resources available:Resource list Title Potential market Body You might be thinking, yes, we want more women to sign up and become active, but the way we do things works fine, because women have already signed up.But our research indicates a huge potential market of women in your community... Our research shows 64% of inactive Victorian women want to get more active. That’s a huge potential market of women in your community who haven’t signed up... yet! Title Quotes from the researchRead how women have felt in common scenarios (then learn about solutions). At the gym . Joining a gym "I just felt so uncomfortable when I walked in there because I am a bit heavier. Even the trainers were really not as polite to me as they were to other people."Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' in our guide Group fitness classes "We were doing group fitness classes then, and the trainers would be like ‘don’t give up’ and I’m not even about to give up. Why are you telling me not to give up or telling me to work harder? I was thinking they were quite nasty to my sister and we were having some difficulty. They made fun of the fact that we were having difficulty. They were like, ’You don’t need to have a break, do you?’"Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' in our guide Personal goals and support from trainers "The gym I used to go to…worked really well for me. I could actually work my shifts around those, because I really wanted to go, so that’s basically what I did. I stopped going there because of this woman who was one of the trainers she was awful. I remember her saying to me that I hadn’t lost much weight…After that I thought, ‘I can’t go back in’. I had six months left on that membership…I just couldn’t go back, I just could not walk in the door"Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' in our guide Equipment layout and etiquette "And I think part of the fear is not knowing how to use it [the equipment] properly, so I think knowing how to use it properly makes a difference for me to have the confidence to go over and do it. Whereas if you've got guys lifting really heavy weights, and you go over there and you're not doing it properly, you don’t feel right"Solution: See 'Physical environment' and 'Culture and customer service' in our guide Getting into the swimming pool "That is what I think of as the gauntlet, from the changing room to the pool…you’re pretty exposed and uncomfortable. I don’t know if you can see the photo, but behind this vertical purple glass, that’s the spa and the sauna. Without sounding rude, it’s usually full of middle-aged men who sometimes are just staring at people and the male changing room is nowhere near that, it’s just the women’s one that passes by there"Solution: See 'Physical environment' in our guide At sports clubs . Joining a team “A couple of years ago, we actually joined a women’s soccer team based in South Yarra; but it was way, way, way too competitive for what we were looking for. The team sort of took everything really seriously, and there was a lot of politics. The coach was really over-bearing, and everyone sort of treated it like it was the World Cup, and we were just sitting there going, ‘we just want to kick a ball around, and make a few friends, and have a bit of fun, and get some exercise. We did it for one season and then stopped”Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide Joining a team as an older woman “I’ve always had people question what I’m exercising for, like they would say, “You’re already skinny!” or as I’ve gotten older, “What are you still playing netball for? You’re too old!” That does make me question whether I should still play or be active.” Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide Joining a team after having a baby “I think it's a sub-conscious thing that you think people are talking about you or judging you. They probably aren't, but for myself, I think people will be talking about me because I'm not like what I used to be [tennis ability and body size]…that they must be looking at me and going, ‘oh she's fat, she's unfit, whatever’.” Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide Women’s teams “Actually I feel I belong better in a predominantly female environment when I'm playing sport. I prefer to play sport surrounded by the people that I know, people that I've got connections with, rather than starting something new and not knowing a single person. I think that would be really hard”Solution: See 'Marketing' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide At council facilities . Feeling unsafe “Subconsciously, the dog ... having the dog with me makes me feel safer. At 5.30 in the morning there’s no way I’m going on my own. Even as a [running] group, if we see someone up ahead, we're like, ‘watch out. There's a man up ahead’, especially when they're not dressed in athletic gear” Solution: See 'Physical environment' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide Activities for diverse groups "I think the thing that threw me off the most was that it seemed very cliquey, and that’s why I had these impressions, because I think everyone in the class seemed to have a friend, or they’d been coming for a while, so they’ve made friendships. So, you walk in the class, and they’re all standing around in their little groups talking, and it just didn’t feel very inclusive, it felt like they very much had their own groups. In saying that, the aerobics class that I do at the moment, it’s at my work, so actually I know pretty much everyone who does it, because they’re our clients. That one I’ve got no problem with, a really inclusive group. But it’s also like it’s very diverse, you’ve got older people who do it, younger people, men, women…”Solution: See 'Culture and customer service' and 'Programs and activities' in our guide Exercising in public streets “I work in a reasonably built up area but thought I would stick mainly to backstreets. On my way back I had a guy yell out of his window ‘keep running fatty’ which was really heartbreaking and not the first time something like this has happened” Solution: See 'Physical environment' and 'Culture and customer service' in our guide Council-run group classes “But this council also made the decision that they would organise personal training sessions...I ended up just getting harangued into going along. That was like a real shift for me, and I think it was largely because that was the culture. We would be there with the council’s handy blokes and they didn’t care about what they looked like, and they didn’t care about what I looked like. It was one of the first times that I thought, oh, no one cares and no one is judging” Solution: See 'Programs and activities' and 'Culture and customer service' in our guide You can’t afford to ignore this research if you want long-term growth in female participation (and we've done the preparation work for you)... Body Step-by-step guide based on our research.All you need to do is follow the checklists and scripts for:MarketingCulture and customer servicePrograms and activitiesThe physical environmentStart making the simple changes that will make a big difference.Step-by-step guide Everything Topics All topics Commercial & economic systems Food systems Investments & partnerships Local government Neighbourhood & built systems Media Release Partner release Tips and ideas Medical research Update Research Impact Plan Research and publications 2 min read 16 Sep 2024 Research , Strategy Opening the Gate Resources and downloads 4 min read 10 Sep 2024 Neighbourhood & built systems Impact & Evaluation Framework Research and publications 2 min read 9 Sep 2024 Research Contacts & expert comment Resources and downloads 5 min read 19 Aug 2024 About VicHealth Policy submissions Resources and downloads 16 min read 19 Aug 2024 Policy Giving young people the facts they need to stop vaping Media release 2 min read 16 Aug 2024 Partner release Future Healthy Countdown 2030 – Open call for papers Research and publications 1 min read 14 Aug 2024 Research Plans to make Health Star Ratings mandatory welcomed by health groups Media release 3 min read 2 Aug 2024 Healthy eating Media Release Physical Activity resource list: getting more women active Resources and downloads 1 min read 30 Jul 2024 Physical activity and sport Neighbourhood & built systems Diabetes Inquiry shows the need to strengthen food policy to protect young people Media release 2 min read 4 Jul 2024 Media Release Growing healthier, fairer communities across Victoria Media release 2 min read 3 Jul 2024 Equity Investments & partnerships Historic day as world-leading vaping legislation passes the Senate Media release 2 min read 26 Jun 2024 Vaping Commercial & economic systems VicHealth calling on Federal Parliament to pass critical vaping legislation Media release 2 min read 25 Jun 2024 Vaping , Tobacco prevention Commercial & economic systems Six school holiday activities for the whole family Article 3 min read 20 Jun 2024 Be Healthy Content Healthy Eating Tips and ideas Federal funding for new digital services to best support Australians quitting smoking or vaping Media release 3 min read 11 Jun 2024 Vaping , Tobacco prevention Partner release Survey: Kids want to help in the kitchen more than parents realise Media release 5 min read 8 Jun 2024 Be Healthy Content Healthy Eating Food systems Jump to Share Share Share 2-minute crash course Potential market Research quotes (gyms, sports, council facilities) Step-by-step guide Discover Campaigns Gender equality Physical activity and sport Back Share Share Share Copy Link Copy Link Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Email