Lerner Health & Wellness Center will begin offering women-focused gym hours twice a week starting Thursday following a year of advocacy from Student Government Association leaders.
The “women’s inclusive” hours will take place Thursdays from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and Sundays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Lerner’s lower level P3 fitness room where students can participate in women-focused programming, like classes and activities led by some of the gym’s female personal trainers. University spokesperson Claire Sabin said the hours, which the SGA announced on Instagram Wednesday, are not limited to those who identify as women but are intended to create a “judgment-free environment.”
Sabin declined to comment on whether officials could not make the hours exclusive to women due to Title IX restrictions. Title IX, a federal law, prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
“These sessions are open to all students while also intending to create a space that centers comfort and respect for those it’s designed to support,” Sabin said in an email.
Sabin said officials selected the days and times for the women’s inclusive hours to reflect students’ “desire” for weekday and weekend workout options that do not conflict with class schedules. She said the Division for Student Affairs intends the hours to serve as a reminder to all students to be respectful of the women-friendly space and its intended use.
“Rather than restricting access, DSA’s hope is to foster an environment where Lerner users are mindful of the purpose of the space and encouraged to act respectfully and without judgement,” Sabin said.
SGA Vice President Liz Stoddard, who advocated for women’s inclusive gym hours in her vice presidential platform last spring, said the initiative grew out of conversations with students — particularly Muslim women who wear hijabs — who wanted dedicated programming to work out without men present. She said the women’s inclusive hours are not designed to exclude certain groups, but to signal a more inclusive space overall for students who may feel uncomfortable working out in the gym normally.
“I just want it to be a place where women can feel comfortable around each other,” Stoddard said. “I heard a lot of complaints about women wanting to do their yoga exercises and being pushed to the furthest corner and not having enough space, or not feeling comfortable.”
Stoddard said she, Lerner staff and DSA officials selected the specific time slots by analyzing tap entry data of students’ gym usage, specifically looking at periods when students commonly used the gym while avoiding peak hours to ensure all rooms remained available during the busiest times. She added that the hours are limited to the P3 fitness room, meaning the main Lerner gym will remain fully operational for all students during the women-focused hours.
Stoddard said the policy took longer to implement than she initially hoped after having advocated for the addition since the end of last academic year, but said every policy change the SGA advocates for has to go through a lengthy administrative approval process, including through GW’s legal department.
She said she thinks President Donald Trump’s administration further complicated the process, because universities across the country are facing increased federal monitoring to determine if their programs could be discriminatory. Trump’s administration has opened two federal probes into GW over the past year, including a review of potential discrimination in the University’s admissions process due to diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
“I wouldn’t say that the administration dragged their feet on this issue, I just think that this issue in particular had to be looked at with extra care, and I think that’s understandable,” Stoddard said.
Stoddard said the students she’s spoken to are happy about the initiative after raising concerns to her last spring about a record-high number of Title IX complaints and feeling uncomfortable working out in the main gym. During the 2024-25 reporting period, the Title IX Office received 494 complaints, the highest recorded number since GW began publishing annual reports in 2022.
She said she hopes the space will be a place where groups like female-identifying and non-binary students can come together to form a fitness community centered on inclusivity and free from judgment.
“Wanting to build community at this university is really important, especially given how a lot of these communities are being attacked,” Stoddard said.
