How lockdown closed the gender fitness gap among children
Last April, this paper launched the Girls, Inspired campaign in a bid to close the gender fitness gap after it was found just eight per cent of girls aged between 11 and 18 were doing the recommended daily hour of activity, compared to 16 per cent of boys.
The campaign came about after research showed millions of girls in the UK were falling off a fitness cliff after primary school, with statements like, “I don’t like boys watching me” and “I have my period”, cited as reasons for not wanting to do PE or play sport.
A little over a year later, and lockdown seems to have reversed this trend, but to the detriment of boys. Sport England is set to release data this week that shows girls are becoming more active than boys during lockdown, something Sport England’s Alison Donnelly says she finds “fascinating”.
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