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Make Space for Girls launch major donation drive for International Day of the Girl
All donations will be matched until 15 October by the Big Give in honour of the International Day of the Girl. Make Space for Girls is fighting for the inclusion of girls in the creation of places
When it comes to parks, there is a growing recognition that the standard ‘youth’ provision often delivered, such as caged multi-use games areas, are barely used by girls and young women, and almost always dominated by boys and young men. When girls don’t feel that parks are for them, they don’t go.
Make Space for Girls, the charity that advocates for inclusive parks and public spaces, has a very simple vision; a world where all parks and public spaces are designed to make teenage girls feel valued and included and where everyone feels welcome.
"Teenage girls are often excluded from the design of parks and public spaces, leaving them without places where they feel welcome or valued," writes Caroline Millar, chair at Make Space for Girls. By partnering with local councils, built environment professionals, schools and advocacy groups, Make Space for Girls aims to raise awareness, drive systemic change and ensure teenage girls’ needs are understood and addressed.
All donations will be matched between noon on October 8th until the 15th by the Big Give in celebration of the International Day of the Girl
The charity is making in-roads: When The Developer Podcast interviewed its co-founders back in May 2021 not long after the charity was founded, a key issue was that councils didn’t see gender as playing a role in teenage use of park facilities and didn’t measure who was there and who was missing.
Since then, Make Space for Girls has made great strides in changing the conversation about girls’ use of parks and public spaces, with some local councils having written their work into planning policies. There’s also been an increasing emphasis on consulting and engaging with teenage girls, and the opening of public spaces specifically designed with young women in mind.
Make Space for Girls has also been gathering evidence: The charity’s 2023 ‘Parkwatch’ research on teenage facilities in parks – the first of its kind – showed that 90% of the park users and 4/5 of the space was being used by boys and men.
In 2024, further research on who was using sports pitches, looking at 84 different local councils across England, found that 90% of demand for sports pitch use is from men’s and boys’ teams. Together there is a cumulative effect: the vast majority of outdoor public spaces are not used by, or welcoming to, teenage girls and young women.
One of our goals is to set up a pilot panel of teenage girls to act as a consultee for councils and developers – and eventually replicate that all across the country
What’s the next step? The charity’s three-year strategy is focussed on systemic change in local and national policy and practice, and offering evidence-based guidance to decision-makers.
One of Make Space for Girls’ goals is to set up a pilot panel of teenage girls to act as a consultee for councils and developers – and eventually replicate that all across the country. "We want to develop a quality mark for park and play space designs that are gender-inclusive, to make it easy for developers to include everyone."
Make Space for Girls is staffed entirely by volunteers and relies on public donations to keep work moving forward. With this week’s campaign the charity is hoping to meet a target of £10,000 to help them hire dedicated staff and get the message to policymakers nationally.
Chosen by the Big Give to be part of its Women and Girls Match Fund campaign in celebration of International Day of the Girl, for this week only (8-15 October 2025), donations will be matched. That means giving £10 would give the charity £20, which could help them equip a teenage girl with workshop materials to be on a consultation panel.
As well as access to parks and public space having a critical impact on teenage girls’ physical and mental health, it’s also a question of spatial equity: What are we telling girls about their right to take up space in the world?
Find out more The Big Give Women and Girls’ Match Fund runs from noon on Wednesday 8 October to noon on 15 October 2025. Donate here
Make Space for Girls also delivers online or face-to-face CPD training for built environment and public space professionals. Visit www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/
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