On May 19th, Women in Sport, in partnership with Getty Images, launched a curation of ground-breaking images and short films that challenge the way women are portrayed in society. Entitled INSPIRING WOMEN TO BE ACTIVE DURING MIDLIFE AND MENOPAUSE the Menopause Short Stories Film was released in the webinar, which also contained new research as well as a panel discussion. The webinar can be found here:
Women in midlife and menopause are largely ignored when it comes to sport and activity but this collection of photographs and films give relatable and inspiring images of women in later life and show the endless possibilities that sport can bring. Women in Sport’s campaign #menopossibilites has been launched and is sharing the stories of 4 women to bring to light the challenges, barriers and opportunities that this life stage offers. The film features Catherine (52), Nina (48), Shazia (45) & Carol (54).
Have a watch and be inspired to get active in whichever way you can, it’s so important that women know they can be active during midlife and menopause.
A few months previously, it was a breakout room on an Active Sussex This Girl Can webinar, where Carol Bates met Liz Prinz, Insight Manager at Women in Sport and discussed that the imagery around older women playing sport and getting active was very limited. Carol stated that she didn’t identify with any of the images and, therefore, how can we get women active when there aren’t relatable images being used. Knowing that the women who attend COGS are relatable to older women having fun playing sport, a later conversation led to a further discussion and an invitation to join Women in Sport & Getty Images as part of their project to “Inspire women to be active during midlife and menopause” as a group who promote a team sport for older women. After some meetings and a lot of planning, it was arranged that Women in Sport & Getty Images would interview Carol and take some photographs of the inspiring COGS during an evening of 2 sessions. It was such a privilege to be asked. What followed was a wonderful evening of photographers, interviewers and videographers shooting fun, laughter, football, gaffer tape (for hiding logos), release forms and laughing/smiling women having fun playing football. All females working together to produce some film and photos to show the fun that can be had by playing football during midlife and menopause. The results can be seen on the Women in Sport website and there is now a worldwide library of images of older women playing football available, which can be seen here, under Menopossibilities: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/menopossibilities?family=creative&phrase=Menopossibilities Our not so professional photos are below!
We were incredibly proud to be a part of this project and would encourage any conversations about women getting active during midlife and menopause because what we have found is that it has changed some women’s lives and that’s no exaggeration.
You can also read Carol’s Story on the website here: https://www.womeninsport.org/our-work/campaigning/carols-menopause-story/
Check out www.womeninsport.org for more information and the other 3 personal stories from Catherine, Nina and Shazia.