'Gender gap’ in sport between active women and men narrows by more than 90,000

'There is still much more to do to tackle stubborn inequalities in participation'

The difference between the number of women and men in England who lead active lives has decreased by more than 90,000, a new survey has found.

In the year leading up to November 2018, the number of active adults in England increased by almost half a million, Sport England states in its most recent Active Lives Adult survey.

According to the sporting organisation, one of the predominant reasons for this increase is the rising number of women partaking in regular exercise.

In the report, which was published on Thursday, it stated that over the 12-month period, the "gender gap" between active women and men decreased from 352,000 to 258,000.

The number of women who follow an active lifestyle, meaning that they take part in at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week, increased by more than 280,000.

There was also a noted decrease in the number of recorded inactive women, a drop of 146,000.

Nonetheless, men are still more likely than women to follow an active lifestyle.

The report outlines that 65 per cent of men are likely to be active, in comparison to 61 per cent of women.

The figures put forward by the Active Lives Survey were based on the responses of more than 179,000 adults in England.

Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth states that while "things are moving in the right direction", inequalities in sport remain "which show that sport and physical activity still isn't appealing to everyone".

“It isn’t right or fair that people on a low income, women and black and South Asian people are still less likely to be active," Mr Hollingsworth says.

"We’re working hard to address that across all of our programmes, with a new stage of the This Girl Can campaign, 'Fit Got Real', just one example."

Mims Davies MP, minister for sport and civil society, states that it's important to ensure that sport is made accessible to all.

"There is still much more to do to tackle stubborn inequalities in participation," Davies says.

"I want the sector to continue to innovate and make sure that everyone, no matter what background they are from, can get and stay active."

In 2015, Sport England launched its This Girl Can campaign to encourage more women to participate in sport.

A year after its launch, 2.8 million girls and women aged between 14 and 40 said that they had become more active as a result of the campaign.