Runners make their way around the 13km course during Nike She Runs The Night at Centennial Park on May 3, 2012, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Corbis via Getty Images)
A survey commissioned by Adidas has revealed that nine out of 10 women feel unsafe while running. Conducted internationally with 9,000 individuals from ages 16 to 34 across the US, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, UAE, China, Japan, and South Korea, the survey discovered that women feel less secure than men during outdoor runs. It claims that 69% of women runners take safety precautions such as wearing loose clothing or running with a partner they trust. The report finds that 92% of women have safety concerns about outdoor running, and that 51% say they are “afraid of being physically attacked” during a run. Furthermore, 38% of women surveyed said they had experienced physical or verbal harassment whilst out running, and half of women runners experience running-related anxiety, which is reportedly linked to the fear of an attack.
Adidas has created a 49 second video to highlight women’s safety concerns, showcasing a group of female runners being accompanied by guards driving cars or riding motorcycles alongside them. “This is ridiculous,” the video’s onscreen text says. “So is 92% of women feeling unsafe when they run.”