Make Space for Girls

Make Space for Girls campaigns for facilities and public spaces for teenage girls. Parks, play equipment and public spaces for older children and teenagers are currently designed for the default male. Provision is almost entirely in terms of skate parks, BMX tracks, football pitches and MUGAs, which are used almost entirely by boys. Girls are never asked what they might want and most councils have spent more time and money on facilities for dog waste than they have for teenage girls. This absence has important implications for how active girls are, for their health in later life, and for how they see themselves as belonging in public spaces. But providing for girls is more than an ideal, it’s a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010. The current state of affairs does not comply with the law. This has gone on for too long. It’s time to make space for girls.