‘Because She’s a Girl’: Lockdown Exposes Gender Gap in U.K. Sports

“Everything’s pointing to lockdown having made it worse for women,” Dr. Bowes said.

As part of the lockdown, gyms, public swimming pools, dance studios, tennis courts and other facilities were ordered to shut their doors. With those avenues closed, advocates for women’s sports say that many women will be deterred from staying active over the winter because of safety concerns about exercising outdoors in the dark.

Lucy Robinson, a 22-year-old student based in Derbyshire, is in exactly that position. She gave up running alone after one wintry evening last year when she was out jogging and a stranger followed her on a bike, shouting lewd comments.

With gyms shut because of the lockdown, Ms. Robinson, who is not a fan of online classes, said she was missing out on the physical and mental health benefits that sport can bring.

“Women are being put in a really tough situation where they have to choose between making their health worse or putting their safety at risk,” she said.

For the women who do want to relieve cabin fever with a run outdoors, the government’s coronavirus regulations have done little to assuage safety fears.

Research from England Athletics has shown a third of women have been harassed while out running alone and that many would feel safer when running with a group. But group exercise is not permitted during the lockdown.

The government devised an exception to the restrictions that allows for one person not in your household to join you for outdoors exercise, provided they keep a safe distance, but that has been criticized as impractical.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/world/europe/uk-lockdown-sports-women.html