Asics has released the results of what it claims is “the largest study ever conducted on the gender exercise gap.” The study, titled “Move Her Mind: Closing the Gender Exercise Gap – Study Report 2023” and unveiled to celebrate the upcoming International Women’s Day on March 8, explores the barriers, challenges, facilitators and motivators to exercise for women.
The study shows that women’s physical activity levels are positively linked to their state of mind. Women who exercise regularly (once a week or more) are 52 percent happier, 50 percent more energized, 48 percent more confident, 67 percent less stressed, and 80 percent less frustrated. To summarize, “the more women move, the better women feel,” stresses the report. Yet, more than half of women (51 percent) are not exercising as much as they would like, missing out on the physical and mental benefits of physical activity.
Women drop out or stop exercising completely due to a number of ongoing barriers. The most reported barriers include other commitments (76 percent), lack of time (74 percent), and the cost of coaches and trainers (62 percent). Lack of confidence also emerged as a major barrier to physical activity. Among inactive women, almost half (45 percent) said they lacked the confidence to exercise, while over a third (38 percent) felt too intimidated to even start exercising.
Differences in male perception
Interestingly, men’s perceptions of the barriers that women face are different. Men reported body insecurities, fear of harassment and fear of judgment as the top three exercise barriers for women. Only 34 percent of men recognized time as an obstacle to exercise for women, versus three-quarters (74 percent) of women citing the issue. In fact, only one (costs) of the top five barriers to exercise perceived by men was actually featured in the list of most common obstacles reported by women, highlighting a widespread misperception among men of the daily reality felt by women around the world.
Gender roles and women’s caregiving responsibilities continue to negatively impact women’s exercise levels, with almost two-thirds (61 percent) of mothers citing motherhood as the primary reason they dropped out of doing regular exercise or sport altogether. Aging is also a challenge, as 51 percent of women reported decreasing or stopping exercise altogether as they grew up.
Friends motivate more than celebrities
When asked about their most important exercise influencers, more than a third of the surveyed women said they were primarily influenced into taking up exercise or a new sport by friends, not celebrities. When asked why they would exercise, women universally said for their mental (92 percent) and physical (96 percent) health rather than aesthetics.
The 23-page study commissioned by Asics was led by Dr. Dee Dlugonski from the Sports Medicine Research Institute at the University of Kentucky and professor Brendon Stubbs, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London and Head of Physiotherapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
The study, which ran from June to September 2023, is based on data from 24,772 survey respondents (online) across more than 40 countries and 26 focus groups around the world. All focus groups were led by independent facilitators, including academics and industry experts.
