Even as professional female athletes are being seen to excel, for instance the Lionesses back-to-back euros win, girl’s participation in sport fails to reflect this.

• By age 7 girls tend to be less active than boys (Youth Sport Trust)
• By age 17 to 18, just 3 in 10 girls would consider themselves “sporty” compared to 6 in 10 boys.

This results in a variety of health issues in life that are hitting women the hardest due to a more sedimentary, unhealthy lifestyle that perpetuates numerous health conditions, for instance Osteoporosis. 

• 1 in 2 women suffer from osteoporosis compared to 1 in 5 men, a disease caused by low bone density and causes bones to fracture more easily. (Poole and Juliet Compston, 2025)
• “60% of the risk of osteoporosis can be explained by the amount of bone mass accrued by early adulthood” (Grunter et al., 2013) 
• A more active youth results in stronger bone density, which continues into later life. (Jacobson et al., 1984) 

Therefore, encouraging girls participation in sport at schools is a public health primary preventative measure against Osteoporosis.

Furthermore, sport involvement in adolescence is a key predicator in adult participation in sport, as lack of experience in sport results in less confidence to pick it up in adulthood. Which is significant, as weight bearing exercises are secondary prevention measures for those at risk of Osteoporosis (Theors.org.uk, 2025) 

This makes women more at risk in developing Osteoporosis, as they feel less confident to take the preventative measures. Also women are significantly more at risk as they get older, due to menopause lowering bone density because of lowered oestrogen. 

• On average, women lose up to 10% of their bone density in the first 5 years after menopause. (Health, 2017)

Higher rates of osteoporosis is preventable in women via active lifestyles, encouraged through equality of access and opportunity for young girls in sport. An estimated £1.8 billion annually is spent by the NHS on osteoporosis patients, this could also be lowered if osteoporosis rates fall in women.

However, key factor in girls’ engagement and participation in P.E. is sports bras. 

• Only 36% of girls aged 11-18 wear a sports bra during P.E or sport in school yet 84% believe it is essential to wear the right bra for exercise. (Women in Sport, 2023)
• 69% admitted they cannot jump or run freely without them and 72% feel self-conscious about their breast’s movement and bounce without a bra.  (Women in Sport, 2023)

Overall, the lack of owning a bra acts as a systematic barrier to girls remaining active in adolescence and therefore continuing the healthy habits into adulthood. 

Furthermore, even when girls are engaged in sport and actively participate, incorrect sports bra size and support are shown to impact performance and chance of injury. 

• “Female athletes are up to eight times more likely to experience an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury than their male counterparts in the same sport”. (Arendt and Dick, 1995; NFHS, 2016)
• Greater breast support is linked to joint movements associated with lower risks of traumatic knee injury. (Fong et al., 2022)
• But research suggests 80% of females are wearing the incorrect bra size. (McGhee and Steele, 2010; Hupprich et al., 2020) 

Proposal 

Sports bras and their fittings should be provided by every secondary school across the UK annually. 

Providing bra fittings to every girl annually also ensures the free annual sports bra they receive would not be wasted due to ill-fitting, especially as they grow, and would meet the standard of support to help prevent injury. 

Furthermore, providing sports bras in bulk to schools not only is more cost effective but also prevents singling out individual students from poorer economic backgrounds, which would make them vulnerable to bullying. 

Implementation

The DofE must amend the Statutory National Curriculum Framework to require all secondary schools to provide optional sports bra fittings annually for years 7 to 11, as well as a single sports bra for each pupil. The optionality of the fittings is significant to prevent students disengaging from the programme long term due to feeling a lack of control. 

Approximately 2.1 million (Service.gov.uk, 2024) girls across the UK attend comprehensive secondary schools. The cost of quality sports bra is approximately £50, as recognised by the British Army, where service women can claim £50 in expenses for a sports bra annually. The usual wholesale price of these bras would be 60% less, £20, although since the contract would be for 2.1 million units annually the margin would be improved. In the initial year approximately £42 million would be spent on providing sports bras. 

Across the UK there are 4,181 comprehensive secondary schools. According to estimates provided by PEBE it could cost between £500-£3500 per school to provide sports bra fittings, depending on size and location. In the initial year of implementation, the national cost to provide sports bras would approximately be between £2 million-£14 million. 

Short term this is a large investment requiring a lot of funding however long term it cuts costs, following the NHS’ aim to increase prevention, to forestall the high costs associated with focusing on curing health issues, especially as the UK population ages. 

Although this policy may be seen as unsustainable environmentally, hopefully over time the programme can transition to reuse sports bras participants have grown out, creating local school or national stock holds of bras to redistribute, which will also slowly decrease annual costs. 

However, this strategy alone may not bring girls participation equal to boys, larger societal changes including increased representation in the media is also required to see the full positive change that could come with girls’ access to sports bras, but perfection should not stop improvement. 

Conclusion 

With one solution, both a decrease in NHS running costs and the empowerment of girls in sport can be achieved through providing sports bras and their fittings in secondary schools. Although the cost of implementation is high, it relieves costs of the NHS and due to being a stable, long-term government contract it is highly attractive to investors. Additionally, its focus on equal participation makes it attractive to investments and donations from progressive groups trying to be at the forefront of positive change. 

Girls are not only engaging less in sport in school but are also at higher risk to injury, due to  sports bras. This one item plays a significant factor in girls' confidence to exercise but also safety, as unsupportive bras leave them at a higher chance of injury than their male counterparts, yet it is suggested 80% of women’s bras are the wrong size.

Furthermore, girls' lack of participation in sport at a young age is reflected in the more unhealthy and sedimentary lifestyles seen in women  later on in life. Therefore, women, especially after going through the hormonal changes of menopause, are more at risk to diseases like Osteoporosis, decreasing their quality of life. This also results in preventable costs for the NHS treating diseases like Osteoporosis. 

So to support young girls  and women later in life, we need to supply free sports bras and their fittings to secondary school girls across the country. Therefore, regardless of economic background all girls have access to a sports bra and one that fits well. Although initially this policy is a high cost, long term with Britain's aging population it will hopefully relieve costs for the NHS. 

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