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HOW WE CAN WORK TO CHANGE RIDICULOUS RUNNING REALITIES TOGETHER?

Running with one earphone in, bringing an alert whistle, wearing loose clothing, notifying friends and family before and after a run; these are some of the realities that 69%* of women runners all over the world face every day when thinking about their safety on a run.

Safety is a widespread issue for women when running, who are regularly forced to take sole responsibility for their own protection. We think this reality is ridiculous, and it’s time we changed the narrative. That’s why we created The Ridiculous Run, to drive greater awareness of the ridiculous realities women face every time they go for a run, and to encourage men to educate themselves on the issue and learn more about allyship. From wearing one headphone, to an all-out protective crew, the film asks what a ‘safe’ run looks like for a woman and calls on the community to help change the current reality.

We’ve not gone into this issue lightly and have rooted The Ridiculous Run in research. We surveyed 9,000 people (4,500 who identify as women and 4,500 who identify as men) across nine markets to better understand the safety issues and perceptions experienced – and crucially, help create change. We found that over a third (38%) of women have experienced physical or verbal harassment, with 62% of men agreeing that women’s safety when running is an issue. Clearly, more needs to be done.

Our research proved that a bigger change and behavioural shift is needed when it comes to women’s safety in running. We found that only 18% of men believe that responsibility lies most with them, when it comes to making women feel safer.

From creating allyship workshops and educational toolkits for men, safe spaces for women to run and safety-focused features on our adidas running app, we are committed to helping make running safer for all, raising awareness, and educating against all forms of harassment and violence towards women. We’ve broken this down into three main elements of our work in this space:

With Women We Run (WWWR) by adidas Runners

Allyship is critical in working towards a world of equality and safety for all, which is why we launched our long-term initiative With Women We Run as part of our adidas Runner communities. Now live in 49 countries and across 72 communities with the goal of creating long-lasting change at a grassroots level. The initiative highlights the need for ongoing education, with the goal of wider change in the culture of running to build strong and unified communities.

Ongoing steps have been established to build safety within our running community. This includes the signing of the White Ribbon pledge for all existing and new adidas runners. To date, over 120,000 runners from the adidas Running app have signed the pledge, "I PLEDGE TO NEVER COMMIT, CONDONE, OR REMAIN SILENT ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN” to cement our community’s firm stance to help take on gender-based inequality and violence. We believe that as runners and through the power of allyship, we are well placed to transform running culture and, in doing so, create a more gender-just world.

Ongoing activities such as the With Women We Run monthly webinars delivered in partnership with White Ribbon, discussion panels and local community events are all crucial to continue raising global awareness and elevating community voices.

adidas Running App

Our research shows more than half (53%) of women runners have not gone for a run due to concerns over their safety, which is why we have built safety-focused features in our adidas Running app. Of the 69% of women who have taken precautions whilst running to feel safer, 28% shared their location with a friend. For this reason, we created the ability for a runners’ live location to be automatically shared with selected contacts to help track their run. We also found that 39% of women would feel safer as part of a running club, so we created a hub for runners to discover local community runs and other events that support the WWWR cause.

App users can also join the With Women We Run global challenge, sign the pledge and commit to playing their part in helping women runners feel safer and raising awareness about the importance of allyship.

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