Women's Forum Event on Barriers to Physical Activity

We want all women in our community to experience the lifelong benefits of physical activity - this event will provide an opportunity to listen to our community and understand the barriers women face around engagement, opportunities and safety and aim to provide more relevant and meaningful activities for all.

“No Filter - A term used to describe someone who is very direct when conversing on various subjects. Anyone described as having no filter says exactly what is on his/ her mind without cleaning up their language”

We have so many filters in our lives….But for this event we would like to consider what the world could be like if we were free from filters, masks and other distractions .

We want to help create the best conditions to enable ALL women to get and stay active. And we believe you can help us to do that, by sharing your own experiences and listening to others.

Social media may be full of curated images, and we certainly don’t want to sustain this – we dream of a world where we can remove filters which mislead, at the same time offering ways to help ladies make a positive contribution to increasing their own wellbeing, mental health and levels of happiness through living more actively.

Some of the reasons we know women are not active are below:

• Not feeling safe enough – A mixture of lack of safety, lone exercising, traveling to and from venues or running on their own, for example.

• Feeling too self-conscious – Social media has made us even more conscious of what we look like – this is hugely compounded by curated images that use filters and photoshop. Is it any wonder we feel imperfect?

• Not feeling good enough (either fitness level, having the right clothing, thinking everyone else will be super advanced etc) We will all start where we are in regards to fitness. Not feeling good enough or fit enough seems to be a common reason for reluctance, but we really want to help change this view. Fitness is a journey, and no one starts in the same place.

We would love to know your thoughts on how we can encourage higher participation and hear your thoughts on what you think makes women feel less likely to be active.

How will the event run?

We will have a panel who will be sharing their own experiences on the subject, as well as a lot of discussion and questions.

Who is it open to?

Any women who are part of the student or staff community at Roehampton willing to contribute towards this discussion, or explore ways and opportunities to be more active with others.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sport and Active Communities Team

Host or Publisher Sport & Active Communities - University of Roehampton