Women lead increase in sport participation
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
An increase in the number of women playing sport has driven improved participation figures, according to the latest survey by Sport England.
People regularly playing sport stands at 15.74 million over 12 months, a rise of 1.65 million since 2005/06.
The number of women playing sport and being active is increasing faster than men.
"It's good news that more women are playing sport, and driving an overall increase in the numbers," said Jennie Price, Sport England's chief executive.
Marketing campaigns such as This Girl Can launched by Sport England are helping to tackle the stigma attached to women in sport.
Price commented "It's particularly great to see This Girl Can is making a real difference. That's because we've really focused on what drives women's attitudes and behaviours.
"If we're to see a further step change in the total number of people playing sport, we need to take a similar, consumer-focused approach in areas where the figures are stubbornly low, like disability and lower socio-economic groups."
The top five sports in which adults take part at least once a week are: Swimming (2.5 million), Athletics(2.3 million), Cycling (2.0million), Football (1.8million), Golf (0.74million).
Research from Key Note suggests that this growth in women's sport participation is also aiding sportswear sales in the UK. According to the data, sportswear sales are predicted to break £6 billion by the end of 2015, driven by the female apparel market which saw an 11% increase in volume sales in 2014.
Female friendly brand, Saucony is one of the many businesses taking advantage of the growth in women's sport participation. Speaking with Sports Insight, Jonathan Quint, marketing manager at Saucony EMEA, discussed why women's specific sportswear is a sector that is thriving.
"One of the major advantages of women's apparel is that it's much more diverse than men's. It's possible to do so much more with it.
"Most women are getting into sport because they want to look and feel better," Quint says. "Kit that looks good and makes them feel better helps them achieve their aim."
In terms of the retail environment, Quint recommends retailers create an atmosphere that women feel comfortable buying products in: "Retailers don't need to refit the store, but it can be made more attractive.
"Make sure there's a good changing area, not just a curtain around some boxes of shoes. Staff should also feel confident talking about the products and to women. Most commonly, middle aged men work on the sales floor, but women sell well to other women. It's no coincidence that women's running shops do really well in apparel."
Are you female friendly?
To help encourage more women to get into sport, ACT and the Breeze network introduced the Female Friendly Bike Shop scheme as part of the ‘Closing the cycling gap' campaign.
Breeze's female-friendly bike shop scheme' promotes independent traders who offer a great service to women with straightforward advice.
Since then almost 400 independent bike shops across the country have started to promote themselves as Female Friendly, displaying a window sticker in their shop and appearing in the Female Friendly category on The Cycling Experts bike shop directory.
Become a Female Friendly Bike Shop
Recognition as a female friendly shop means you will benefit from national promotion on The Cycling Experts as well as promotion within the rapidly growing network of participants and volunteers of the Breeze network.
If you think you qualify as a female friendly bike shop please fill out the form at the bottom of this page and a Breeze representative will be in touch.