From case studies to research reports to strategic recommendations, WSFF produces a variety of written materials which share our insight into the barriers women face in sport and physical activity, and how to tackle them.
Fact sheet
In this factsheet, WSFF illustrates the benefits to sports bodies of working with women and girls. Focusing on the business case and...
Fact sheet
Sport England have recently announced their intention to begin focussing on the problem of falling participation rates amongst younger age groups, in...
Fact sheet
• 2.76 million women (12.8%) take part in regular sport every week, this is a non-significant increase since 2008-09
• Swimming, gym and athletics are...
NEW for 2011, this factsheet highlights the key findings for women's sports participation from the 2009-10 Active People Survey.
Case study
“Fantastic! So easy to understand with achievable activities for all girls.”
Aim HI is a resource that contains over 50 activities for girls, based on the idea that good health is a combination of physical, mental and social...
Fact sheet
Angling participation overview
8,600 females take part in angling at least once every four weeks.
In comparison, 200,000 men take part in angling every month,...
Report
The goal of the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation is to create a nation of active women. It’s a huge challenge and one we can only achieve by working...
Fact sheet
45% of female archers are 35-54 years of age. Participants are more likely to be from high income households.
Archery participation overview
This year around 19,500 women took part in archery at least once every four weeks – a decline of 0.02 percentage points on the...
Fact sheet
Around 0.74 million women take part in athletics at least once a week.
Between 2008-09 and 2009-10 there was no significant change in women’s participation in...
Athletics participation overview
Athletics is the 3rd most popular activity for women behind swimming and going to the gym.
Women’s participation has...
Case study
“Back to Netball is designed to encourage women that may find it too daunting to enter a competitive club environment or may not have enough time to...
Following the overwhelming success of four Back to Netball sessions run in partnership with Mid Sussex District Council and Freedom Leisure, a need for...
Fact sheet
The greatest disparity between men and women in badminton occurs at ‘middle youth’ where 30-34 year old men are almost three times more likely to play the...
Badminton participation overview
Badminton is the 7th most popular sport for female participation - around 200,500 women play badminton at least once a...
Fact sheet
In this fact sheet we explore the range of practical, personal and social and cultural barriers that prevent women and girls becoming involved in...
Fact sheet
More than twice as many men as women play baseball/softball.
Baseball and softball participation overview
0.07% of women (around 15,100) play baseball/softball at least once every four weeks.
Female baseball/...
Fact sheet
Basketball participation overview
Basketball is currently the 17th most popular sport for women, but the 4th most popular team sport.
There has been a...
Report
“To succeed in the world of sport you have to be at the top of your game and the lack of funding and sponsorship investment for aspiring women is another...
The case for commercial investment in women's sport reveals there continues to be a chronic lack of investment in elite women's sport in the UK.
A new...
Case study
“The introduction of Bollywood dance as part of the extra-curricular programme has proved to be a resounding success. The participation levels of the...
We wanted to engage girls who were largely inactive within the curricular PE programme and extra-curricular activities.
The target audience of girls...
Fact sheet
Men are more likely to bowl than women, with the biggest difference at age 75-84 with almost twice the proportion of men as women taking part.
Less than 1% of...
Bowls participation overview
Around 153,100 women take part in bowls at least once every four weeks.
Bowls is the 5th most popular sport for women aged...
Fact sheet
Participation has fluctuated over the past few years although figures are not significant enough to establish any trend.
Boxing remains a predominantly male...
Boxing participation overview
19,400 women box at least once a week.
Fact sheet
There has been a significant decline in female participation between 2008-09 and 2009-10, however this was after a year of massive growth, so the true trend is...
Canoeing and kayaking participation overview
Around 12,900 women canoe/kayak at least once a week.
Men are three times more likely than women to canoe/kayak at...
Report
In the report you will find both stories of WSFF and the past 25 years of women’s sport – presented in a way which we hope fulfils two objectives; firstly...
Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold marks WSFF's 25th birthday with a look back at a quarter century of records from women's sport.
From Tessa Sanderson...
Fact sheet
Coaching female high performance athletes
There is evidence to suggest coaching is still delivered in a way that assumes gender neutrality; ie female and male...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching...
Fact sheet
Coaching myth buster
If something is said enough times, it starts to become ‘fact’. When it comes to coaching female sport, much of these facts are often based...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching...
Report
A national target has been set for two million more people to be more active by 2012, of which at least one million should be women. But with 24 million...
Creating a Nation of Active Women provides the framework to address the crisis detailed in It’s time. But it’s more than a strategy for change. It is a stark...
Fact sheet
Female participation is considerably lower than men – just one in ten weekly players is female.
Cricket participation overview
36,700 women play cricket at least once every four weeks, with 15,100 of them playing at least once a week.
Young women aged 16...
Fact sheet
Cycling is the second highest in demand sport among women: 416,000 women want to do more.
Cycling participation overview
Recreational cycling is the 5th most popular activity that women take part in at least once a week.
The proportion of women...
Fact sheet
Developing female coaches
This factsheet focuses on the reasons for the under-representation of women in coaching and steps governing bodies of sport,...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching...
Fact sheet
Monitoring is recommended to eliminate all forms of discrimination whether intentional or unintentional. As well as ensuring that there is no present...
Fact sheet
Almost seven times as many women as men take part in equestrian activities
Equestrian participation overview
Equestrian is the 5th most popular activity for women and one of just seven sports that has more female than male...
Case study
Since Jan 2008 ECFA has been running female ‘get back into football’ sessions within Essex’s Metropolitan Boroughs as well as outer Essex. The success of the...
Fact sheet
Exercise, Movement and Dance participation overview
EM&D is the 4th most popular activity for women. Over a million women take part in EM&D at...
Case study
The project aims to tackle the low number of Muslim women and girls in sport, in order to bring equality through the arena of sport. This is done through the...
Case study
The London FA Female Officials Programme is run in partnership with Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence. Starting in 2008/09, it consists of a group open...
Fact sheet
Female Physiology and considerations for coaching practice
All people are individuals and it is for you, the coach, to contextualise the following information...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching them in...
Fact sheet
Female psychology and considerations for coaching practice
This factsheet aims to provide some of the evidence on differences in how men and women think to...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching...
Fact sheet
Fencing is the 34th most popular participation sport for women, behind archery and shooting
Fencing participation overview
Around 6,400 women took part in fencing at least once a month in 2008-09, a significant decrease since 2007-08
Women make up a...
Case study
“The netball league has been a huge success and has fostered a real team spirit. All the girls enjoyed themselves. The regular weekly training...
We wanted to increase girls' participation in sport and physical activity at Bishopsbriggs School in Scotland. We aim to improve girl’s fitness levels and...
Fact sheet
Football participation overview
Football is the most popular team sport for women and is in the top ten across all sports for female participation....
Fact sheet
In addition to a lot of committment and an innovative approach, getting more women and girls to participate in sport and physical activity may also...
Case study
Futsal Fever is a project which targets females aged 16+ who attend FE and HE institutes across Bedfordshire.
Case study
"Our Voice, Our Choice, Our Sport"
Girls Active is a national programme to create opportunities for girls to express how they feel about PE and sport and provide opportunities for girls to...
Case study
"I participate in football, short tennis and basketball every week and this helps me make new friends. Sport also gives me a rush of energy and when playing...
The uptake of sport and physical activity among the girls in the school has been low and a large number of girls did not use to take part in PE at all....
Case study
“Many factors have contributed to the success of the Girls in Sport project but the planning, staff commitment and in particular the innovative marketing...
In order to reach the national physical activity recommendation of 1hr of moderate activity every day, we created the ‘Girls in Sport’ club at the Meldrum...
Fact sheet
Golf participation overview
Around 0.12 million women play golf at least once a week.
While golf is the 11th most popular sport for women, it is still...
Case study
Our project is designed to identify talent for Great Britain's female sitting volleyball squad in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympics. We are...
Fact sheet
The number of female participants has considerably declined over the past few years. Weekly participation has remained stable in the last year, but monthly...
Gymnastics and trampolining participation overview
Around 34,500 women take part in gymnastics at least once a week.
Gymnastics is an ethnically diverse sport...
Fact sheet
Hockey is most popular among women in the South West and South East. London has the lowest hockey levels – as is the case for most sports.
Hockey participation overview
Hockey is the 3rd most popular team sport amongst females, and the 14th most popular physical activity. However,...
Fact sheet
This factsheet outlines how and why sports should gender impact assess their strategies. Exploring how the process can help you to determine whether your...
Fact sheet
Each sports club is unique, that’s part of the beauty of sport. Each team or club has its own history, its own traditions and characters as well as its...
Fact sheet
There is no one-size fits all approach to the perfect NGB for women and girls. Each sport is different, each governing body will know its own sport better than...
Case study
England Hockey and the FA’s Women’s Super League (WSL) offer some valuable insights into their landmark commercial deals for their women’s games.
Big Deal? showed there remains a chronic lack of commercial investment in women's elite sport in the UK. Yet it wasn't all bad news. Read behind the...
Fact sheet
WSFF is often asked ‘what are the health benefits of girls and women taking part sport and exercise?’ And we say – there are so many! This NEW factsheet...
Report
Did you know that more than 80% of women are not doing enough physical activity to benefit their health? Young women aged 16 – 24 are nearly half as active as...
Published in 2007, It's time is a ground-breaking research study into women's participation in sport and exercise.
The report reveals the true extent of the...
Fact sheet
Judo is a young woman’s sport – three times as many 16 to 34 year olds as 35 to 54 year olds take part
Judo participation overview
While judo has a relatively small numbers of women taking part (4,590), those who do are more satisfied than the average with all...
Case study
“I hated getting changed. The room was dull and felt dirty - it was horrible to get changed in. There was never any toilet paper or paper towels at the...
From the Fit For Girls survey we found 17% of S2/3 girls believed the facilities for PE were not good. We discussed this with the girls and found out that they...
Fact sheet
There has been no significant change in women’s monthly participation in lacrosse since 2008-09.
Lacrosse participation overview
Around 8,600 women play lacrosse at least once a week, making it the 28th most popular participation sport for women.
97% of...
Case study
"Participants were empowered to be ambassadors to promote the project within their school. They were also encouraged to Activate an Angel and bring a...
Active Angels is an innovative multi-activity project that aims to contribute to the health of 14-16 year old girls by encouraging and sustaining their...
Case study
From 8th February to 14th February 2010 PRO-ACTIVE South London facilitated a women and girls sports and physical activity festival across South London branded...
Fact sheet
This guide has been designed to help you identify key steps and tools in planning a successful marketing campaign to attract more women and girls into the...
Fact sheet
Rock climbing is the most popular ‘mountaineering activity’ for women and men.
Mountaineering participation overview
Mountaineering is the 18th most popular sport for female participation, with around 81,900 women taking part at...
Fact sheet
The world of sport is male dominated and women often come up against considerable challenges. In this fact sheet we address those issues faced by Muslim women...
Fact sheet
Around 140,100 women play netball at least once a week, rising to almost 200,000 on a monthly basis.
There has been a significant increase in the number of...
Netball participation overview
Netball is the second most popular team sport amongst female participants.
The sport is very popular among young women...
Report
In 2005, the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation commissioned Opinion Leader Research (OLR) to carry out a study into socially excluded mothers with young...
Report
In the autumn of 2004, the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) commission researchers from Bristol University to carry out a six-month qualitative...
Report
This latest report from the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport shows that women’s sport represents a great opportunity for switched-on investors.
A team...
Case study
Having looked at the results from the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation ‘Sweat in the City’ programme Active Sussex and Inspire Leisure wanted to...
Fact sheet
Weekly rounders participation has fluctuated very slightly over the past three years so it is hard to predict a trend.
Rounders participation overview
Rounders is the 20th most popular activity for women and the 5th most popular team sport - around 21,000 women play at least...
Fact sheet
Rowing is most popular among 16-19 year-olds and they make up 29% of all rowers.
The profile of female rowers is much younger than women who take part...
Rowing participation overview
19,400 women row at least once a week, making rowing the 21st most popular activity for women.
One in four female rowers...
Fact sheet
Over 86% of female Rugby League players are aged between 16 and 34, which is the 2nd highest proportion of 16-34 year-old women among all sports.
This is due...
Rugby league participation overview
Rugby League is the 34th most popular monthly activity amongst women, with around 8,600 women taking part at least once...
Fact sheet
Men outnumber female rugby union players 29:1. This is a larger difference than seen in 2008-09.
Rugby union has seen a decline in female participation over...
Rugby Union participation overview
8,600 women play rugby union at least once every four weeks, with 6,500 playing at least once a week.
72% of female rugby...
Fact sheet
Sailing is more popular with men than women; however participation in sailing does appear to be declining.
45,300 women sail every at least once every...
Sailing participation overview
Sailing is the 22nd most popular female activity, ahead of canoeing and kayaking, with around 19,400 women sailing at least once...
Fact sheet
The sport has one of the largest gender differences of all Sport England funded sports – there is one woman for every ten men.
Shooting participation overview
12,900 women take part in shooting at least once every four weeks, making it the 30th most popular participation sport for...
Fact sheet
Female participation in skiing and snowboarding has fluctuated over the last few years.
Skiing and snowboarding has one of the most equal gender ratios...
Skiing participation overview
Skiing is the 13th most popular participation sport for women.
Four in five female skiers come from a household with an income of...
Fact sheet
Socially inclusive coaching
It is increasingly recognised that key social and cultural barriers influence women’s and girls’ participation in sport and...
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching them in...
Fact sheet
This factsheet provides a succinct overview of issues relating to women’s sport and participant stereotyping on the grounds of sexual orientation and key...
Fact sheet
The concept and practice of equity is fundamental in sport, and needs to underpin all thinking in the sports sector. This factsheet explains more about...
Fact sheet
Unlike other racquet sports, which have relatively even gender splits, squash has five times as many male players as female players who play squash at least...
Squash and racquetball participation overview
Squash is played by around 38,800 women at least once a week and is the 3rd most popular racquet sport for female...
Case study
"My confidence has grown and I feel like I could fit into a place like a gym"
Sweat in the City (SitC) was an innovation research project to help to find out why 16- 24 year old women are half as active as men of the same age. With the...
Report
The project was designed to gain a better understanding of how to motivate women to become more active. Today, 16 year-old girls leave school half as active as...
This report details the innovative research project Sweat in the City which project provided over 2000 inactive 16 – 24 year old women a three month free and...
Fact sheet
There has been a significant decrease in female participation in swimming over the past three years – approx. 2.14 million women swam at least once a week in...
Swimming participation overview
Swimming is the most popular sport for female participation.
There are 0.8 million more women than men swimming weekly.
Fact sheet
Table tennis is more popular with men than women: more than twice as many play.
Table tennis participation overview
Table tennis is the 19th most popular physical activity and the 4th most popular racquet sport.
Around 62,500 women...
Fact sheet
There has been no significant change in female participation in taekwondo participation in the last year.
Looking back over the past three years female...
Taekwondo participation overview
Around 10,800 women take part in taekwondo at least once a week, making it the 27th most popular participation sport for women...
Report
For many sports, retaining women and girls in sport provides a different and unique challenge.
WSFF commissioned the Futures Company to carry out a definitive...
Fact sheet
This factsheet explains the reasons why teenagers drop out of sport, and provides solutions for NGBs, clubs and coaches for retaining them.
It was first...
Fact sheet
Around 181,100 women play tennis at least once a week however, female participation appears to be declining.
Tennis participation overview
Tennis is the 8th most popular sport for female participation.
Over half of female tennis players have incomes of £41,600...
Report
The Energy Project
This handbook documents the journey, research and findings of The Energy Project, a study that aimed to find ways to increase physical...
Case study
Linking fashion, beauty and exercise this project aims to get girls moving in their local community and to empower them to make positive choices about their...
The aim of the programme is to increase participation amongst 11 to 16 year old girls and encourage them to take up more physical activity opportunities within...
Fact sheet
This factsheet will assist coaches and clubs in developing the player pathway for women in their sport.
We need to better recognise that women and girls take...
Report
Summary of the key findings:
Why some women DO swim:
For leisure.
An enjoyable swimming occasion for young women consists of a swim with the following mix- a...
In autumn 2005 WSF and the Amateur Swimming Association commissioned HNI International to carry out a six month research project into women aged 25-34 and...
Fact sheet
This factsheet presents the headlind findings about female participation from the latest Active People Survey.
2.76 million women (12.8%) participate...
Report
Drawing on lessons from the world's most successful companies it makes the business case for having more women in sport's senior management and sets out...
Trophy Women? was produced by the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport in conjunction with Opportunity Now. The report reveals the extent to which men...
Report
This latest report from the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport shows that women are still not being fully represented at senior management levels within...
Case study
Little League Netball provides the opportunity for girls aged 8-11 to play competitive netball and receive coaching regardless of ability to pay or play. The...
Fact sheet
Women make up 30% of all volleyball members, which makes it one of the most equally balanced gender profiles of all sport.
Volleyball participation overview
Volleyball is the 26th most popular physical activity.
Around 23,700 women play volleyball at least once every four...
Fact sheet
Waterskiing participation overview
Around 6,900 women took part in water-skiing at least once every four weeks, making it the 35th most popular activity for...
Fact sheet
There has been a significant decline over the last year in the number of women taking part in weightlifting each week.
Monthly participation has also...
Weightlifting participation overview
Weightlifting is the 29th most popular participation sport for women.
Around 13,000 women take part in weightlifting...
Case study
Female Coach Development is an innovative project aimed at sustaining the participation of teenage girls in football through the provision of more qualified...
Case study
The women and girls in judo project focuses on creating environments to encourage the retention of female members (including special needs members). To do...
Fact sheet
In September 2009 WSFF delivered a workshop at the annual BUCS conference. This factsheet captures some of the key elements of the presentation and the...
Fact sheet
WSFF believe that the IOC should achieve gender parity in number of medals available, and the total number of athletes at the Olympic Games by 2016.
Hosting...
Fact sheet
This fact sheet is provides a starting point for those looking to develop their own projects aimed at getting more women involved in coaching.
Since 2000...
Case study
"The Women in Motion project has provided opportunities for hard to reach groups to be active in the local community for free. The participants are...
The ‘Women in Motion’ project is a BIG Lottery funded initiative which sits within the Living Well West Midlands portfolio. It is one of 29 innovative health...
Report
The audit exposes just how uneven the playing field currently is when it comes to men and women. Across leadership, investment and promotion in sport, women...
Backing a winner: unlocking the potential in women's sport
The Women in Sport Audit 2007/2008 looks at the inequalities faced by women's sport. The...
Case study
The project targeted women who may not have had the opportunity to become involved in sports coaching without the programme. Training was no longer cost...
From August 2006 until July 2008 the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) managed a project that enabled 159 women across London to pursue sports...
Case study
"IT’S FUN, IT’S SAFE, IT’S SOCIAL!"
The Women’s Running Network (WRN) was founded 11 years ago in Exeter to encourage women to run who would not normally consider that they could. Our ethos...
Report
WSFF is calling for a cross-government strategy to tackle the low levels of activity among women and girls. We believe that previous and current government...
Fact sheet
Just a quarter of girls meet current recommended levels of physical activity a week
Female drop off in sport starts earlier than males’ and is also more...
This factsheet summarises the recent key findings on young women and girls' physical activity.
It brings together quantitative data from a number of sources...
