Make Space for Girls, a charity founded to make parks and other public spaces safer and more welcoming for girls, is carrying out a survey of parks and play areas.
Their research suggests boys dominate teenage facilities like pitches, skate parks and BMX tracks by a ratio of 12 to 1, but the charity doesn’t have enough data and is asking everyone in the UK to help by doing a spot count on the bank holiday weekend of May 27-29th.
“We’re asking people just to pop down to the park over the bank holiday weekend and do a spot count of who is using the teenage facilities,” said Susannah Walker, co-founder of Make Space for Girls, along with Imogen Clark.
“It really is as simple as that. But the data will make a huge difference to our campaign.”
“We know that the skate parks, BMX tracks and multi-use games in our parks tend to be dominated by boys and young men, but we don’t have hard data about how extensive this is,” said Imogen.
“Getting this information will help councils – and other providers – create spaces which are more inclusive for everyone.”
For more information visit https://www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/parkwatch
