Hi Anon, thank you for your suggestion.

I have spoken to Sport and Wellbeing management about this and they are in agreement with SUSU that we are hesitant to introduce female priority equipment or female only sessions because it creates gender divisions and in our opinion would be detrimental towards creating equality. That said, we recognise that many members of the gym do feel uncomfortable with using the free weights so we will be taking steps in the near future to tackle this. Our current plan is to hold focus groups and consultations with various groups of S&W members to inform ways to tackle this issue and make the gym a more welcoming environment in future so I would recommend keeping an eye out and attending these sessions when they come up over next term. Some ideas that have been floated between us already have been to hold beginner sessions, have more guidance on gym etiquette in general, and have incentives for social media influencers to promote the positive aspects of working out in Jubilee gym among the student body to inspire more confidence in users. There will be action on this during the next academic year but what form it takes is yet to be decided.

Best wishes,

Steve Gore, VP Sports