Fearless. Female. Runners.
A Statement, A Stand, A Struggle
Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women's Day.
Women’s equality has suffered some serious backlashes in recent months. Patriarchy has reared its ugly head and many of the gains of the feminist movement have been rolled back or reversed altogether.
But what does all this have to do with running?
Quite a lot, actually.
Running Towards True Equality
Running is often described as a form of freedom, an act of pure physical expression. But for women1, it has always been more than that. Running is a confrontation — with history, with societal norms, and with deeply ingrained power structures. Every stride a female runner takes carries with it the weight of systemic bias, the struggle for bodily autonomy, and the ongoing fight for true emancipation.
The Body as a Political Battlefield
A female runner moving through the streets is never just a runner. She is a disruptor. Her moving body defies traditional narratives that have long dictated how women should behave, dress, and exist in public spaces. Historically, female bodies have been controlled, regulated, and scrutinized — whether through dress codes, beauty standards, or the notion that female runners should not engage in 'masculine' exertion.
You all know the story. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was nearly tackled off the Boston Marathon course because she dared to enter a race that had been deemed unsuitable for women. The message was clear: “this space is not meant for you.” And while official race barriers have since been lifted, the invisible barriers remain: The unspoken expectation that female runners should justify their presence in male-dominated sports.
Fear and the Female Runner
But we are not only talking about the lack of freedom. We are also talking about fear. To run as a woman is to run with an underlying sense of risk. The fear of being harassed, followed, or assaulted is not paranoia. It is a lived reality, reinforced by countless stories of attacks on female runners.
This isn't just about safety, it's about autonomy. The fact that women have to calculate running routes based on streetlights, carry self-defense tools, and alter their schedules to avoid danger is a testament to a world that still does not grant them the same freedom as men.
The Inequality of Recognition
This fear is compounded by the gender disparities in sports funding, sponsorship, and media coverage. Women’s races receive less airtime, less prize money, and fewer endorsement opportunities. When female runners are acknowledged, the focus often shifts to their appearances, personal lives, or the so-called 'sacrifices' they make to compete. Narratives that rarely accompany discussions of male athletes.
Beyond this, the structural biases extend to coaching, training facilities, and even research on female athletic performance. Female bodies are still understudied in sports science, leading to training methodologies that primarily cater to men. This gap not only affects performance optimization but also increases injury risks for female athletes who are forced to adapt to standards not designed for them.
The Dogma of Doubt
Women are also far too often told what they cannot do, rather than encouraged to pursue what they love. From a young age, girls hear messages that condition them to believe they are not fast enough, strong enough, or built for competition. They are made to feel that running, like many other athletic pursuits, is an uphill battle against their own biology. Instead of inspiring confidence, society plants doubt.
No woman should ever step back from running — or any other sport — because she has been made to believe she is not good enough. The idea that certain body types are "wrong" for running, that strength in women should be minimized rather than celebrated, or that competitiveness is unfeminine, is nothing more than an attempt to keep female athletes from reaching their full potential and fulfilling their dreams.
Running as Resistance
Yet, despite all of this, women run.
They run because movement is power, because reclaiming space is an act of defiance, because every step is a rejection of the constraints imposed upon them. Their struggle is not just about physical endurance — it is about the endurance of identity, of resilience, of the refusal to shrink in a world that so often demands it.
But true gender equity in running isn’t just about closing the pay gap or improving representation. It’s about dismantling the structures that make running a different experience for men and women. It’s about ensuring that a woman running at night does not have to look over her shoulder. It’s about allowing female runners to be athletes first, without their gender being a sticky footnote in their achievements.
How We Can Change the Narrative
Recognizing Running as a Feminist Act: Supporting female runners means acknowledging the intersection of sport and gender politics. This is not just about athletics. It is about human rights.
Demanding Equal Coverage and Pay: The running industry, sponsors, and media must actively invest in female athletes without reducing them to secondary figures in the sport or pigeonholing them into outdated gender roles.
Creating Safe Spaces: Communities must commit to making streets safer, both through policy changes and cultural shifts that no longer tolerate harassment as an inevitable part of being a woman in public.
Shifting the Language: Female runners do not need to be described as 'strong for a woman' — they are simply strong. They are not 'breaking into' male-dominated sports — they belong there as much as anyone else.
Encouraging More Women to Run and Race: We must actively support and inspire women runners to take up running and sign up for races, no matter how far, hard, and crazy. Representation matters. When more women run, they redefine what is possible for the next generation.
When women run, they are not just participating in a sport. They are challenging centuries of oppression, they are claiming their right to exist without fear, and they are reminding the world that their movement will not be contained.
Let’s be and stand with the Fearless. Female. Runner.
Everything Not Running
To turn words into visibility and visibility into action, we launched the "Fearless. Female. Runner." campaign with Willpower.
From the ashes of women's cycling brand Veloine (RIP) comes a design that couldn't be simpler or more powerful. "Fearless. Female. Cyclist." becomes "Fearless. Female. Runner." The message remains the same:
Female athletes, we call on you!
Run fiercely and with joy. Wherever you want, however you want. Never doubt. Run fearlessly.
On Repeat
"The Road" by folk/punk singer-songwriter Frank Turner is one of those songs that puts a smile on my face every time it comes on. Especially when I'm running.
The song, which is almost 16 years old, radiates a wonderful, fresh and easy-going outdoor charm and great wanderlust. It's probably already on thousands of running and outdoor playlists. In any case, it is an integral part of mine.
There is a funny anecdote about the video: it shows clips of Frank Turner playing 24 shows in 24 hours in Greater London in 2009, a kind of unofficial world record, which he corrected and made official last year by playing 15 shows in 24 hours in different cities.
And now let's all put on "The Road" and go for a run!
This includes all persons read as female
I love the intention behind this, but I’m not sure I love the slogan “fearless female runner”. To me, fearless is not something we can be (yet): to be fearless in a world where you can be harassed, cat-called and whatnot when you’re out in the street as a woman runner seems naive. The fear is there to make you alert: it makes you scan your surroundings and calculate whether you can run there or better not. The slogan also suggests that it’s the women who need to change, rather than the system. Instead of making women fearless, we should create a world where you don’t have to use that fear to protect yourself. Instead of creating fearless female runner, we should create decent men. But I guess that doesn’t aliterate as nicely.
Hi
danke für Dein Statement für Frauen, das ist so wichtig! Und ein Longsleeve habe ich gerade bestellt mit Fearless Female runner