According to recent findings from adidas, a staggering 92% of women do not feel safe while running. Additionally, 62% of men acknowledge the issue but only 18% feel they bear the majority of the responsibility to help women to feel safer.
Hypebae sat down with adidas Women’s Global Communications Director, Sina Neubrandt on how Three Stripes plans to help women feel more comfortable running as part of their "Ridiculous Run" campaign — an initiative that highlights the ridiculous lengths women runners will go to ensure safety from wearing one ear bud or keeping sharp objects like keys in hand.
Keep reading for adidas' plan to tackle the issue.
1. White Ribbon
adidas is partnering with nonprofit organization White Ribbon whose work centers around eliminating violence from men towards women by challenging social inequities. The organization has advised on training for coaches among other tools for adidas initiatives.
2. Better Training
With help from White Ribbon, adidas has implemented education for men and women on how to be better allies. According to Neubrandt, this training has already been used on more than 250 coaches and captains worldwide.
3. "With Women We Run" by adidas Runners
adidas' With Women We Run acts as a safe space for women runners across 49 countries and 72 communities. In addition to women-only runs and events, it supports community for practical changes.
Neubrandt called out Poland specifically, saying, "Our Poland adidas Runners felt that better lighting and CCTV on popular running routes would enhance women’s safety during evening runs. As a result of petitioning and a voluntary budget for the City District Council, they installed a CCTV monitoring service and created adequate signage to help make the running routes safer for everyone."
4. adidas Running App Tracking
69% of women admit to taking precautions for added safety while running with 28% sharing their location, something that adidas built into the brand's running app allowing for easy location share with contacts.
Thoughts on this? Do you feel safe running and is the issue bigger than brands?
Read the full interview here.