Getting active is proven to help improve children's mental wellbeing. Yet new figures from Sport England’s Active Lives 2024-25 survey reveal that across England, girls are 22% less likely than boys to be active outdoors outside school – a gap that begins in primary school and persists across regions.
In London, that widens to 26%, despite being home to Arsenal Women stars such as Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo, while Beth Mead’s home region of Yorkshire and the Humber are 25% less likely. Kate Dale, Director of Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, said: “Our research proves that the gender activity gap begins at a young age and persists into adulthood, depriving many girls and women of the joy, connection, and incredible health benefits of an active life. We want all girls to grow up with the belief and confidence that playing and being active outdoors is something that they can be part of.”
For the athletes and role models inspiring the next generation, however, playing outside was a critical part of their early development and a key foundation for their future success. Before the professional pitches and packed stadiums, they played in parks, pavements, estates and back gardens. Now Unilever’s Dirt Is Good (known as Persil in UK) and Arsenal Women are coming together to make sure today's girls are given the same opportunity.
To celebrate Chloe Kelly being shortlisted for this year’s Sports Personality of the Year award, alongside the England Women’s Team nomination in the Team of the Year category, Dirt Is Good has created a striking new print and OOH campaign. Featuring never-before-seen childhood photos of Chloe and her Arsenal and England teammates, Beth Mead, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy, the campaign powerfully brings to life the simple truth that every great sporting journey starts outside.
The campaign will run across print and prominent outdoor billboard locations outside Emirates Stadium in London and MediaCity in Salford, reinforcing Dirt Is Good and Arsenal’s shared commitment of continued investment in community programmes, helping more young girls to thrive and access the space, freedom and confidence to play outdoors.
Tati Lindenberg, Home Care Chief Marketing Officer, said: “The statistics highlighting the disparity between boys’ and girls’ outdoor play are sobering, and shows how much more needs to be done to reduce the gender gap. Through this campaign, we can see the valuable role that outdoors play has had in the journeys of Arsenal Women, so it’s vital that we normalise the value of getting dirty so the next generation of talent can follow in the footsteps of their heroes and dream of playing at Emirates Stadium themselves one day.”
Source Sport England x IPSOS:
22% less likely refers to RELATIVE gap between boys & girls aged 5-16 who take part in sport and physical activity outside whilst not in school for more than 30+ minutes a day (52% of boys v 41% of girls) based on an average per week.
School year group range is year 1-11 with parents responding for those in year 1-2 and pupils in years 3-11 responding themselves. Statistics refer to outside school hours. Some of the activities are done on school premises but as part of clubs outside school hours.
Methodology: Online survey carried out via a random probability survey of schools in England using a sample from DfE’s Get Information About Schools data. Carried out between September 2024 and July 2025 by Ipsos on behalf of Sport England. Schools were recruited by Active Partnerships. The data has been weighted. England age 5-16 years Girls unweighted base 60,268; Boys unweighted base 58,409
London age 5-16 years Girls unweighted base 5,048; Boys unweighted base 5,008
Yorkshire and the Humber age 5-16 years Girls unweighted base 3,499; Boys unweighted base 3,492
South East age 5-16 years Girls unweighted base 9,687; Boys unweighted base 9,802