The BMC is supporting This Girl Can – a new national campaign from Sport England and partners to encourage more women and girls to get active regularly.

It's a celebration of active women up and down the country who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets. It aims to demonstrate that girls and women of any size, ability or experience can make sport an enjoyable part of their lives.

Based on insight into women’s sporting attitudes and experiences, the campaign uses humour and a sassy attitude to tackle the fear of judgement that prevents many women taking part in sport and activity.  It uses slogans including:

Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox

I'm slow but i'm lapping everyone on the couch

I kick balls. Deal with it.

The campaign aims to tackle the rising gender gap between the number of men and women playing sport.  However, with 75% of 14-40 year-old women in England cited as wanting to exercise more, the campaign aims to break down the barriers to what is stopping those women from getting started. 

Jennie Price said: “We found out by talking to women of all ages up and down the country that what’s stopping them is fear – fear of judgement. Whether that’s about how they look, whether they’re any good at it, or feeling guilty about spending time on themselves. This Girl Can is a celebration of all the women who are finding their confidence to exercise: it’s an attitude, and a call to action for all women to do the same.”

The campaign launches today (12 January) with a heavyweight national advertising campaign. Keep your eyes peeled and you may spot climber Jen Wood appear on your TV screen in the Coronation Street ad break at 7.45pm.

The BMC will be supporting the campaign over the next few months, starting with the theme This Girl Can: Climb, followed by This Girl Can: Walk and This Girl Can: Mountaineer. Keep an eye out for articles, BMC TV films, competitions and social media banter.  Are you an just getting into climbing? Let us know your experience and what fears you overcame to start climbing.

You can get a flavour for the campaign by watching some behind-the-scenes videos of the stars of the campaign and following @thisgirlcan.

Find out more about This Girl Can

Get inspired and join the conversation: #ThisGirlCan

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