One Giant Leap (Day) For Women?
A blog by Natalie Jackson.
This week, The Outward Bound Trust has launched the Her Adventure Fund, with the aim of fundraising to give more opportunities for wild adventure to women and girls. Why? Because World Health Organisation research has found that 85% of adolescent girls don’t meet recommended daily physical activity levels, and a 2023 Girl Guiding Survey found that 1 in 6 girls ‘hardly spend any time out in nature’ and 1 in 5 think ‘adventure is more for boys’.
More worryingly, two thirds of girls say they are not always given the same opportunities as boys their age, and 81% of girls would like more opportunities to have adventures and try new things
Outward Bound’s Her Adventure Fund is redressing that balance, by funding more girls’ courses, more Summer Adventures places for girls, and continuing the great work of our Women’s Outdoor Leadership Course.
I was excited to launch the fund this week at the International Women’s Day Celebration in Chesterfield, where MMB’s connector extraordinaire Abbie asked me to host an afternoon of inspiring tales, empowering stories and a whole host of amazing women – from Thai Boxing World Champion Rachael “The only person standing in my way is me, and I know how to beat her” Mackenzie, to the rest of our powerhouse panel; business expert and politician Nicolle Ndiweni, international football referee Georgia Ball, entrepreneur Natalie Bamford and lawyer and director Katie Ash.
It was an honour to be asked to host the event, and the fact that it was taking place on a ‘leap day’ (29th February) made it even more special. It also got me thinking about how we might put International Women’s Day 2024 into some context. Because I sometimes hear people ask if International Women’s Day, or a fund just for women and girls, is really needed in 2024. First, I got thinking about ‘leaps’ forward that had been made in women’s rights (I love a word pun!) and that led me to thinking about how recently a lot of these leaps have been made, and how, actually, we might still have a bit of a way to go.
It turns out that leap years have been around a while – Julius Ceasar made them official over 2000 years ago. Equal rights for women are a more recent invention. To give some examples; This year is only the 24th leap year since all women in this country were allowed to vote (1928). It’s only the 19th since married British women gained independent nationality regardless of the citizenship of their husbands (1948) – this one especially bothered me, because I’m from the Isle of Man, and they raise us proud over there. This year is only the 14th leap year since the equal pay act. It’s the 9th since marital rape became illegal, and the 3rd since the UK’s first ever conviction for forced marriage. It’s the first since the tampon tax was abolished, effectively stopping treatment of sanitary products as ‘luxury items’.
In sport, it’s only 10 leap years since women were first permitted to run an Olympic Marathon (1984), with concerns previously around the risk to women of their uteruses falling out if they ran too far. It’s 7 since the British Board of Boxing Control were told that they had to give women professional boxing licenses, with concern previously having apparently been that PMS made them too unstable to box. And, aptly since we were supporting the Chesterfield FC Women’s Team with our event, it is only 14 leap years since the ban on women playing football in FA stadia was lifted. Prior to then, for 12 leap years, the game was thought to be “wholly unsuitable for females, and one which ought not to be encouraged”.
As I said in my opening remarks, THIS is one of the great things about International Women’s Day for me, and THIS is why events like this one in Chesterfield (on leap day) are still so important. Because in the grand scheme of things, we’ve not had that many leap days of real equality, let alone equity.
In 5, 10 or 15 leap years, on another leap day, I would love for International Women’s Day to be less relevant, and I would love for Outward Bound’s Her Adventure Fund to be less relevant too. But for now, I think we still need both.
To support Outward Bound’s Her Adventure Fund go to Her Adventure (outwardbound.org.uk) and to hear more about how your business can support the work of the Trust, get in touch with Natalie Jackson at Natalie.Jackson@outwardbound.org.uk.
