Sport England’s This Girl Can team has launched a new campaign, Let’s Get Out There, which is aimed at getting more women active outdoors.

While the physical and mental benefits of spending time in green and blue spaces are well documented, research by CPRE shows that many women, especially those from cultural diverse backgrounds, face barriers to access these spaces.

Sport England has teamed up with Forestry England, Canal & River Trust and Ordnance Survey to develop new resources to promote the benefits of the great outdoors, these include editable assets, photos and social copy for organisations to promote opportunities to get active outside.

A toolkit will also be released for those who provide and promote experiences for women in natural spaces, featuring guidance on how to create activities and communicate effectively with women from culturally diverse backgrounds. 

"This Girl Can is all about celebrating women being active in a way that's right for them, and there are so many great ways to get active outdoors," said Kate Peers, Sport England’s strategic lead for campaigns.

"However, it’s important to recognise that for some women getting active outdoors may be more difficult, which is why we want to highlight some of the wonderful organisations who are doing such brilliant work in this space to tackle these barriers, creating opportunities to get out there and enjoy the benefits."

This Girl Can research has found that 48 per cent of women prefer not to exercise outside after dark and 60 per cent worry about the risk of sexual harassment or intimidation. As a result, 46 per cent of women change their outdoor exercise routines in the winter to escape this curfew.

Last year, This Girl Can launched a video aimed at men about how to make women feel safer, including keeping a respectful distance, not making any comments even if they think it’s a compliment and to step in if they notice a woman being harassed.

The recently released Active Lives Adult’s Report showed that women continue to be less active than men, a finding that is backed up by Nuffield Health’s Healthier Nation Index, which reported that 33 per cent of women considered themselves less fit last year than the year before.

Benefits of exercising outside include lower levels of perceived exertion, stress reduction, restoring mental fatigue, improving mood, self-esteem and perceived health. It can also encourage a greater respect for nature and looking after the environment and it has the advantage of often being free.