Lockdown is hitting women's health, warns Tanni Grey-Thompson
Women are facing unprecedented pressure on their health during lockdown as the gender gap continues to widen, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Kate Dale, the campaign lead for This Girl Can, have said.
In an impassioned joint plea, GreyThompson and Dale said women not only had to deal often with an increased workload, including home school responsibilities, during the third lockdown but also had fewer opportunities to exercise.
Last year Sport England, which tracks the nation’s weekly activity levels, reported a “retreat” in women’s activity levels during the first lockdown. Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian who is now chair of ukactive, warned the situation had become more acute during the winter.
“Women are facing unprecedented pressure on their health due to lockdown, not least when trying to stay active,” she said. “There should be serious concern about the impact of lockdown on our overall wellbeing, particularly without the same opportunities to stay active for our mental and physical health.”
According to ukactive – which represents more than 4,000 gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools – women make up 54% of gym members. Furthermore, 76% of those at group classes are women, with the most popular workouts being spinning, aerobics and yoga.
Grey-Thompson urged the government to help by reopening facilities as quickly as possible after schools go back. “We know that women really value the essential services provided by leisure facilities, and the longer they are closed the greater the impact on our long-term health,” she said.
On Monday the government is expected to announce plans for easing out of lockdown. Professor Greg Whyte said new ukactive data, which showed an overall rate of 1.7 Covid cases per 100,000 visits to gyms and pools in the second half of 2020, suggested sports facilities were far safer than many had assumed.
“Women are being left behind as a result of lockdown closures of the leisure and fitness sector,” Whyte said. “Swimming and group exercise play a central role in the opportunity to enhance physical, mental, emotional and social health. If the goal is to enhance the efficacy of the vaccine, improve population health, protect the NHS and save lives, it is vital that women have access to the leisure and fitness sector, with its proven safety record, as soon as possible.”
Dale conceded the past year had had an impact on people’s motivation to exercise. “Activity habits have had to shift and flex to deal with financial insecurity, anxieties around the virus, home-schooling responsibilities and an increased care burden for many,” she said. “The good news is that we know 69% are consciously looking forward to getting back to the activities they enjoyed before Covid-19.”
Arsenal’s chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, has described social media abuse of black players as the “biggest problem” in football and says its impact cannot be overestimated.
The Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah is the latest high-profile footballer to be targeted after he was urged to leave the club in a racist message sent in reply to a training picture he posted on Twitter before the Europa League tie against Benfica. Twitter has “permanently suspended” the account responsible.
Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Lauren James and Chelsea’s Reece James – Lauren’s brother – are among the other footballers recently targeted by racist abuse on social media.
Venkatesham, speaking at Thursday’s FT Business of Football summit, said: “The abuse of so many of our black footballers on social channels is probably and possibly the biggest problem we have in the game at the moment. Footballers, referees and officials are all human beings and have feelings like anybody else, and we really must not underestimate the impact that social media abuse can have on an individual.
“We have to take this opportunity as a wake-up call. Unfortunately, we are getting to a point where this type of abuse that a black footballer is getting is becoming increasingly normalised. It is 2021 and we cannot be having that conversation.
“I am not for a moment saying this is simple, and this is easy, and there is a silver bullet that can solve it. But football, the players, and social media companies need to come together to solve this, because this is a moment in time. If we don’t make positive progress I really, really worry about the path we are heading on.”
Venkatesham said Arsenal had protocols to aid the growing problem, but urged social media companies to do more. Instagram has this month announced new measures to tackle online abuse.
Venkatesham said: “Of course we provide support, psychologists, all that type of stuff, but I don’t want to be providing support, and I don’t want to be writing another release saying how disgusted we are about players being abused on social media.
“Across the whole Premier League, the clubs do a lot, and the Premier League themselves do a lot, but we really need the support of the social media companies here. We cannot do this alone.
“How can you explain to a black footballer that if a piece of pirated content goes up on social media it is taken down within minutes, but that is not the same for racist abuse. I don’t know how you explain that?”
A Twitter spokesperson told Sky Sports News regarding the abuse of Nketiah: “Racist behaviour has no place on our service and when we identify accounts that violate any of the Twitter Rules, we take enforcement action. The account referenced has been permanently suspended.”