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During April and early May, the University of Westminster Students’ Union (UWSU) ran a series of free events to support Sport England’s "This Girl Can" campaign and empower female students to get involved in sports and physical activities.

The promotional poster for the Student Union "This Girl Can" campaign features two SU Vice Presidents. “This Girl Can”, developed by Sport England and launched in 2015, aims to promote sports amongst women, showcase and celebrate active females and persuade more women to become active. On Tuesday 13 April, UWSU launched their campaign to encourage students at Westminster to get involved in activities within the Student’s Union with a series of free events.

The first event of the series, a woman only introduction to fitness, run by one of the UWSU Active instructors hosted a beginner’s online fitness class to show attendees the basics of how to get involved. The second event, featured an influencer and panel discussion on Muslim women in sport. Influencer, Asma Elbadawi will discuss her work around removing the ban on hijabs in professional sport. The event will also feature a collaboration with the Mena and Pakistan Society, with a discussion on topics relating to Muslim women in sport and the barriers that they may face.

Other events within the series will include a talk from “Gymshark” athlete and fitness influencer Milly Pickles about her experiences around disability in sport, a discussion from Founder of Feed. Fuel. Perform and registered performance nutritionist Dr Sinead Roberts around nutrition in sport also an employability event and how taking part in SU activities can influence a career in sport. On the final day of the “This Girl Can” event series, Dr Renee McGregor will join UWSU to give her expertise on eating disorders within sports to open important discussion points around this topic and raise awareness in the community.

Talking about the Students’ Union’s support for the “This Girl Can” campaign, Olivia Ponsford, Vice President of Activities at UWSU, says
“We want to ensure that now, more than ever, we focus on increasing female participation in sport. Women come in all shapes and sizes with all abilities from different backgrounds. We want to show that anyone can get involved in sport, whether a Dragon or not. We also believe it’s important to run virtual sessions on aspects that influence participation, such as nutrition, barriers to sport and mental health. Anyone can get involved in this campaign, and we encourage everyone to check it out to see what's on offer.”