Girls facing multiple inequalities ‘less likely to do physical activity daily’

Girls with multiple characteristics of inequality are significantly less likely to do physical activity every day, a survey has found.

Girls with two or more characteristics such as being from a low-income family, having special educational needs and disabilities (Send), or are black or Asian are significantly more likely not to be active every day, the Youth Sport Trust found.

The survey of 17,971 young people across 137 schools found girls with two characteristics of inequality or more were also more likely than their peers not to feel confident doing physical activity and not like taking part in school PE or physical activity.

Girls in general are twice as likely as boys to report they do not do 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

Girls with two or more characteristics of inequality are half as likely as their female peers without any characteristics of inequality to do physical activity every day, findings show.

Ali Oliver, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said too many girls, particularly those with multiple inequalities, were being left behind in PE and sport.

“Gender is already a barrier, but when combined with other factors such as income, ethnicity or disability, the impact on girls’ confidence, enjoyment and well-being is even greater,” she said.

“We cannot let this and subsequent generations believe that the opportunities to be active and healthy are determined by background or circumstance.”

Girls were nearly twice as likely as boys to say they feel they do not belong at their school, and girls with two or more inequality characteristics were 1.3 times more likely to report this than girls without any inequality characteristics.

The Sport England Active Lives Survey has found girls aged five to 18 are less active than boys for the past seven years.

The Education Policy Institute found last year that vulnerable pupils, students eligible for free schools meals, or with lower prior attainment, or Send were less likely to attend sports clubs than their peers.

Guidance for schools released last year under the former Conservative government said school leaders and PE teachers should be planning how to respond to and challenge negative biases and gender stereotypes around sport.

The Youth Sport Trust’s Girls Active Survey was conducted across two time frames in autumn 2024 and summer 2025.