Safe place to sweat: The need for women’s-only fitness at Humber North

Muscles burn from the workout, but what drains even more is the constant need to stay aware. The stares, the questions, the cameras and the way some men occupy the space as if they own it. This is the all-too-common experience for many female gym-goers at Humber North gym.

Despite the growing demand for women’s-only fitness, Humber North remains one of the only post-secondary gyms in the province without female-only fitness options.

Other institutions such as the University of Guelph, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University and York University offer some sort of women’s-only fitness opportunities, ranging from female-only gym hours to dedicated female spaces or women-only fitness classes.

“I know for a fact that a lot of girls don’t go [to the gym] because they don’t wanna be looked at by guys … or things like that,” says Shawn Mclellan, first-year pro golf management student and frequent attendee of the Humber North campus gym, adding: “there’s been situations where I even had to intervene.”

A 2021 survey by RunRepeat revealed that 56.37 per cent of female gym members faced harassment in the gym, experiencing 2.68 times more harassment than their male counterparts.

“I’ve had people approach me when I clearly don’t want to be approached. My headphones are on, my head is down, and I don’t want to be talked to. And they come up to me and ask me for my number or like catcall me; just make me feel uncomfortable,” says fourth-year justice studies student, Michaella Thomas, who attends the Humber gym five days a week.

Harassment in the gym has noticeable effects on its victims and their fitness goals. Many women are unable to fully immerse themselves in the gym leading to underperformance or even prematurely abandoning their workouts.

The survey conducted by RunRepeat found that 30.13 per cent of women who faced harassment in the gym changed their routines or habits afterward. Additionally, 28.69 per cent found themselves switching gyms or completely quitting.

“I feel like I’m being watched, and I don’t wanna do my exercises anymore,” shares Thomas.

One of the main challenges of implementing women’s-only fitness is the lack of space in Humber North’s gym. Due to the small size of the gym, some students are worried that introducing women’s-only hours may lead to the gym being extra crowded during all-gender hours.

“The gym isn’t very big. So then going when it’s everybody-inclusive, it gets packed. If there’s already female hours, then some girls won’t be able to go while it’s those hours, and they’ll be taking over also when the guys need to go. So, it’ll get even more packed,” says Mclellan.

However, there may be alternatives to achieving a female-only space in the gym aside from gender-specific hours.

“Where the cardio machines are, there is a little studio and if they … develop that just a little bit better, and they put in some weights and such, I think that could be a very good spot for girls to go. Make it just a one-sided glass so you can only see out, not in, and girls could go in there and do their workouts easy and get out if they’re too uncomfortable working out in the larger gym with everybody else,” suggests Mclellan. “If there’s sections then everybody’s inclusive. They can have their section. We can do our things, they can do their things, and no one’s impacted by it.”

A women’s-only area would allow women to work out in a private space, separate from harassment or intimidation from men all the time, rather than limited to specific hours of the week.

The space would also accommodate the religious practices of Muslim women by allowing them to remove their hijabs while working out, as they cannot reveal their hair to unrelated men, but can reveal their hair to other women.

While creating a separate women’s-only space in the gym could take quite some time and funding. There may be another option that could be implemented: women-only fitness classes.

While there is nothing of the sort at Humber North, Humber Lakeshore offers an exclusive female-only workout class.

The “Women’s – Beginner Strength & Cardio” class runs twice a week providing female-identifying students with an opportunity to learn and practise workout exercises in a comfortable and supportive space.

However, Humber’s North Campus Fitness Centre does not currently offer any gender-specific workout classes.

“We’ve investigated in the past with respect to our studios offering women’s only classes, but we were advised, from certain risk management and safety areas, to not put coverings on the windows because then those spaces become places where other things can happen,” says James DePoe, manager of the North campus athletic facility.

This year Humber North athletics installed new gates that require students to scan their AVRO app in order to enter, which also serves as a way of collecting demographic information such as gender and what time people are visiting the gym.

“We could look at certain, you know, times of the day that maybe we had a spike in female participation, and we can look at trying to do something,” says DePoe regarding the planning for potential women’s-only fitness options.

While there are no current plans to introduce women’s-only fitness at Humber North, there is potential for growth in the future, according to DePoe: “it’s on our mind. We are in the midst of latter stages of a new build discussion, and then this is actually going to be at the forefront of the new build.”

In the meantime, any women facing harassment in the gym are encouraged to speak to gym staff so that action can be taken, as this type of behaviour violates the Humber Code of Student Conduct.

Free counselling services are also available for students who have experienced harassment and can be accessed through the Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre (SWAC), located on the third floor of the Learning Resource Commons (LRC).