Equality Diversity & Inclusion Campaign

In conversation with Make Space For Girls

Tell us a little about your organisation.

Make Space for Girls is a charity which campaigns for parks and public spaces to be designed with teenage girls in mind. When facilities are provided for teenagers, these tend to be skate parks, football and basketball pitches or BMX tracks – but all of these are dominated by boys. Teenage girls have nowhere to go. This impacts their mental and physical health, but it's also a question of inequality and human rights. So we think this needs to change.

What are your objectives for 2023?

We are focusing on three key strands. The first is research because we don’t know enough about who uses parks and what does and doesn’t work for teenage girls. We also want to ensure that the voices of teenage girls are at the centre of any work that is done. The second is solutions. We want more people to design parks and public spaces which work for teenage girls, and we want to encourage not just individual projects but policy change that makes this happen nationally. The final one is communication – we need to raise the profile of the issue itself, and then share both the research and the solutions.

Give us an insight into your core values

our work is driven by the following values:

• Evidence-based: research and data guide all aspects of our work.

• Engagement: the voices of girls and young women are at the centre of what we do.

• Equality and Inclusion: the needs of girls and young women from all backgrounds must be understood

We are focusing on EDI let us know how you are approaching this / how your company encompasses equality, diversity, and inclusion.

The mission of the charity itself is focused on equality and inclusion, but we also work to ensure that all our projects consider the full range of intersectionality’s which affect how girls use parks, or don’t, and that we collaborate with as diverse a range of collaborators and voices as possible.

Susannah Walker - Co-founder of Make Space For Girls

https://www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/make_space_for_girls/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-space-for-girls/about/

https://twitter.com/MakeSpaceforGi1/