Make Space for Girls

Make Space for Girls is a focused UK charity dedicated to achieving equity in public spaces by ensuring that parks, play equipment, and outdoor recreational areas are designed to make teenage girls feel valued, included, and welcome. Operating from the conviction that public spaces are currently, by default, designed for male usage—a phenomenon the organization terms the "default male"—the charity campaigns, researches, and advocates for a fundamental shift in urban and landscape planning to create environments that genuinely serve the entire community.

The organization’s vision is simple yet radical: a world where all parks and public spaces contribute equally to the physical and mental well-being of all people. This commitment is particularly vital given the evidence that vulnerable young women and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds often experience the highest rates of exclusion and safety concerns in poorly designed, male-dominated public areas. By focusing on female equity in space, Make Space for Girls contributes directly to social inclusion, confidence-building, and the safety of young women in their neighbourhoods.

The Hidden Crisis: The Default Male Space

The issue addressed by Make Space for Girls is often invisible to designers and policymakers. When facilities for older children and teenagers are planned, the resulting spaces—typically skate parks, large pitches for competitive team sports (like football or basketball), and rigid, challenging climbing structures—are overwhelmingly used by boys.

This subtle but profound exclusion of teenage girls is a result of several intersecting factors:

1. Safety and Perception: Girls are acutely aware of safety and often avoid large, open spaces dominated by male groups, fearing harassment, judgment, or feeling watched. They prefer areas that offer shelter, varied activities, and opportunities for socialising in smaller, flexible groups.
2. Activity Preferences: While some girls enjoy competitive sports, many prefer activities that are social, less competitive, or focused on informal movement, such as swings, hammocks, performance spaces, seating areas, or spaces for informal games. Current park design rarely accommodates these needs.
3. Lack of Consultation: Historically, teenage girls have been largely absent from the consultation process when parks are designed. Designers default to the most visible and vocal users, who are often young men, resulting in facilities that perpetuate the cycle of exclusion.
4. A Priority Gap: As the charity starkly notes, "Most councils have spent more time and money on facilities for dog waste than they have for teenage girls." This gap in investment reflects a deep-seated lack of political priority for the needs of adolescent women.

The consequence of this design failure is that girls, who are already under-represented in using public space, retreat indoors or rely on costly private venues for socialising and exercise. This retreat exacerbates problems of social isolation, poor mental health, and reduced physical activity, particularly impacting vulnerable young women who may lack safe, non-home environments to meet friends.

The Three Pillars of Action: Research, Engagement, and Campaigning

Make Space for Girls employs a strategic, evidence-based approach to drive systemic change across the UK and internationally.

Make Space for Girls introduction to councils.

1. Research and Evidence Compilation

The charity’s work is underpinned by rigorous research to quantify the problem and identify effective solutions.

• Citizen Science Projects (e.g., Parkwatch): Initiatives like Parkwatch mobilize the community to collect data on who is using parks. By counting the number of teenage boys versus girls in local facilities, the charity provides irrefutable evidence that current designs are failing half of the target population. This data is essential for compelling councils and developers to act.
• Peer Research: The organization champions peer research projects, where young women are hired and trained to conduct research themselves. This method provides authentic, nuanced insights into how girls perceive safety, the barriers they face, and what they truly desire from a public space. This process is deeply empowering, as the girls directly generate the data that will shape their own communities.
• Good Practice Library: Make Space for Girls compiles international case studies from cities like Stockholm, Vienna, and The Hague, demonstrating that inclusive design is achievable. By showcasing examples of effective solutions—such as diverse seating arrangements, performance shelters, non-traditional swings, and areas for informal hanging out—they provide practical models for UK councils and designers to emulate.

2. Youth Engagement and Co-Design

The charity fundamentally believes that there is no universal, "off-the-shelf" solution to inclusive design. The key is involving the target group directly.

• Involving Teenagers in the Process: Make Space for Girls advocates for and facilitates genuine engagement with teenage girls throughout the entire design lifecycle, from initial concept to final installation. This moves beyond symbolic consultation to true co-design.
• Exploring "What Better Looks Like": The charity creates visual resources and prompts to stimulate conversations about inclusive design. These images and ideas help participants and professionals move past traditional park aesthetics, demonstrating that spaces designed for girls can still be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. These designs typically focus on flexibility, light, varied terrain, and opportunities for both active and passive socialising.

3. Campaigning and Advocacy for Systemic Change

To move from individual projects to national policy, Make Space for Girls directs its efforts at the institutions that control urban and land use planning:

• Targeting Developers and Councils: The charity provides specialized resources and guidance for local authorities, housing developers, and design professionals, helping them understand their legal and ethical obligations under planning and equality legislation. This advocacy aims to embed inclusive design as a standard requirement, not an optional extra.
• Influencing Policy and Strategy: Through its campaigning, the organization works to influence policy at regional and national levels, ensuring that official strategies on healthy places, youth engagement, and gender equality explicitly include mandates for equitable public space design.
• Matching Funds and Support: Through fundraising initiatives like the Big Give’s Women and Girls Match Fund, the charity secures resources to sustain its research and advocacy efforts, maximizing its impact and ensuring its vital work can continue to influence policy and practice nationwide.

In essence, Make Space for Girls is leading a crucial movement for social equity. By shining a light on a subtle but pervasive form of gender discrimination in the built environment, the organization is demanding that public parks be designed as truly democratic spaces. Its work ensures that teenage girls—including those who are most vulnerable or at risk of exclusion—have safe, welcoming, and empowering places in their neighbourhoods to grow, connect, and participate in community life, thereby laying the groundwork for a more inclusive and resilient society.