We’re aiming to lead the way as the UK\u2019s capital for women and girls in sport, launching a year-long campaign to celebrate female achievement and inspire everyone to get active.<\/p>\n
Fast becoming a powerhouse for women\u2019s sport,\u00a0Brighton & Hove has\u00a0a growing reputation both nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n
The city has already hosted major tournaments, including the UEFA Women\u2019s EURO 2022 and last year\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup and is home to Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s Women\u2019s Super League team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are also hopes that\u00a0Brighton\u00a0&\u00a0Hove will be named as a host city for the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in 2035, while later this year, international women\u2019s cricket returns to Hove when England take on New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Sport Lifts Her Higher\u00a0<\/p>\n
We’re determined to make the most of these opportunities, and this month\u00a0will\u00a0launch our Sport Lifts Her Higher campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The campaign aims\u00a0for\u00a0women and girls to get active and celebrate\u00a0the work of schools, colleges,\u00a0charities\u00a0and grassroots organisations across the city.<\/p>\n
Nationally, one in three girls drop out of sport during their teenage years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Brighton\u00a0&\u00a0Hove, a 2023 survey found only 15% of secondary-school-age girls had done an hour of physical activity every day for the past week, compared with 27% of boys. In primary schools, 22% of girls met that target, compared with 34% of boys.<\/p>\n
Girls miss out on equivalent of 52 football matches a year<\/p>\n
Research shows girls across the UK are\u00a0missing out on\u00a01.4 hours of sport a week compared with boys \u2013 the equivalent of 52 football matches a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One in three girls also said boys had access to a wider range of sports.<\/p>\n
However, more than half of girls surveyed said watching professional athletes inspired them to play, and two-thirds agreed that seeing diverse athletes showed sport was for everyone.<\/p>\n
Encouraging more women and girls to be active<\/p>\n
We believe that continuing to welcome elite women\u2019s sport to the city, alongside celebrating local efforts, will encourage more women and girls to take part.<\/p>\n
The benefits of playing sport are widely reported to\u00a0boost mental wellbeing and even improve job prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Girls who play after-school sport are 50% more likely to land top jobs later in life, with the confidence and resilience gained from sport giving a boost equivalent to a university degree.<\/p>\n
Women who play sport are also almost a third more likely to handle pressure well and bounce back after hard times, and a fifth more likely to enjoy trying new things.<\/p>\n
Sport also helps tackle social isolation, challenges stereotypes and addresses health inequalities.<\/p>\n
Already great work being done across the city<\/p>\n
Local organisations are already playing their part, including Brighton & Hove Albion and its foundation, Hove Rugby Club, Sussex Cricket Foundation, Active Sussex,\u00a0parkrun\u00a0and many grassroots teams.<\/p>\n
We now want to build on that work, creating more opportunities for women and girls of all ages to get involved.<\/p>\n
The transformative power of sport<\/p>\n
Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, said: \u201cWe want 2026 to be the year Brighton & Hove becomes the UK capital of\u00a0girls and women\u00a0in sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much amazing work being done in this area already, but we know that women and girls are still less likely to play sport or be active and\u00a0that this gender gap can lead to significant inequalities throughout people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a council we are investing in new sports facilities\u00a0and\u00a0will continue to do so because we know how important sport can be in people\u2019s lives, and the transformative power it can have in our communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith elite events like the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup and international football already putting our city on the map, now is the time to turn that energy into action. We want every woman and girl to feel that sport is for them – whether it\u2019s joining a local team, trying something new or simply moving more every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We’re aiming to lead the way as the UK\u2019s capital for women and girls in sport, launching a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-235566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}