Since its launch in 2015, Sport England’s This Girl Can initiative has become one of the UK’s most recognisable and impactful campaigns for women and girls in sport. Its central message, that there is no “right” way to keep active, has helped challenge barriers that prevent many women and girls from taking part in physical activity. More than a decade on, its importance remains undiminished, particularly when viewed through the lens of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
At its core, This Girl Can is about access and belonging. Traditional sporting environments have often had a very narrow and male centric audience. This campaign deliberately disrupts this narrative by centring women and girls of different ethnicities, body types, ages, abilities and backgrounds. By doing so, it recognises that inequality in sport is not just about gender, but about how gender intersects with race, disability, class, religion and culture. Seeing this through an intersectional lens is pivotal in shifting societal views.
EDI-focused approaches like this are vital because the barriers women face are unique and multi-faceted. For some, it’s lack of confidence, for others, it’s lack of culturally appropriate spaces, affordable opportunities, or visible role models. This Girl Can succeeds by validating these experiences rather than dismissing them, and by promoting the idea that confidence/competence is not a prerequisite for participation.
More specifically, football offers a powerful example of why this work is so important. As the UK’s national sport, football has enormous cultural influence, yet for decades it has been male dominated. While the growth of the women’s game (boosted by events such as the Lionesses victories at both Euro 2022 and 2025) have been remarkable, many girls and women still feel football isn’t a space in which they belong. This Girl Can helps counter this by normalising women’s participation at every level, from informal kickabouts in the park, to grassroots leagues, all the way through to elite participation. Importantly, it shows that playing football doesn’t require elite skill, expensive kit or unwavering confidence, just the ability to give it a go, linking back to the age-old phrase “jumpers for goal posts”. When I walk through local parks these days, I see groups of youths playing football. Whilst growing up this was dominated by young boys, these days the gender split is significantly more even, and it is a heartwarming sight to see.
The campaign’s inclusive storytelling also challenges the ideology that sport must be competitive to be valuable. For many women, football and other activities are about social connection, mental wellbeing, and joy. By highlighting these motivations, This Girl Can broadens the definition of success and creates space for more people to see themselves in sport.
Ultimately, the significance of This Girl Can lies in its refusal to treat women as a single group but looks as them as complex beings with differing needs. Its EDI-focused messaging acknowledges difference, champions representation and actively works to dismantle systemic exclusion. In modern day society, where we are grappling with inequality, initiatives like This Girl Can are not just beneficial, they are essential. They remind us that when sport becomes more inclusive, everyone stands to gain; on the pitch, on the court, on the sidelines, and far beyond.