Words by Like the Wind – Photography supplied by ASICS
For years, women have been told they can “have it all.” But having it all means doing it all – and that means navigating a landscape shaped by expectations, societal norms and, at times, a lack of representation. The first thing to go when women have their hands full? Exercise. Only 33 percent of women met weekly recommendations for aerobic exercise according to a 2024 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Women are exercising less than men and the effects go deeper than a lack of fitness.
Over half of women say that they’ve decreased or stopped working out due to significant barriers, a 2024 study commissioned by ASICS determined. This is the largest study to date on the exercise gap, with data from 24,722 survey respondents and 26 focus groups across more than 40 countries. Lack of time, other commitments, the cost of coaches or trainers, low self-confidence, intimidating environments, gendered expectations and caregiving responsibilities all make it so 51 percent of women are not exercising as much as they would like.
This exercise gap has serious ramifications on women’s physical and mental health. Women who exercise regularly reported feeling 52 percent happier, 50 percent more energised, 48 percent more confident, 67 percent less stressed and 80 percent less frustrated than those who don’t exercise regularly, according to the ASICS Move Her Mind report.
That’s not to say that women aren’t showing up or breaking boundaries – they are, every single day. But the challenges are real, so how do we bridge that divide to create a more inclusive, supportive and equal approach to fitness?
THE GENDER DISCONNECT
You probably don’t need a study to tell you that the more you move, the better you feel. But understanding that doesn’t remove the challenges of prioritizing fitness. “All of the barriers we looked at in this study were barriers for some women,” says Dee Dlugonski, PhD, the co-author of the ASICS study and a renowned researcher in exercise and wellbeing for women, children and families at the Sports Medicine Research Institute at the University of Kentucky. “We often get caught up in labelling the biggest barriers or the top three barriers, but 10 to 20 percent of women are still dealing with almost all of the less prevalent barriers – and that’s a significant number when you’re talking about a survey of almost 25,000 people.”
What was even more striking was the disconnect between women’s reality and men’s perception around barriers to exercise. Over half of men surveyed believed women drop out of exercise because they don’t enjoy it. And while 74 percent of women said lack of time was a barrier to exercise, only 34 percent of men recognised that as a problem for the opposite gender. Instead, they ranked body insecurities as the main barrier, an issue for only 36 percent of women. In fact, of the top five barriers perceived by men, only one – costs – actually made the top five list for women.
“I don’t think men understand what is asked of women from a societal perspective,” says Tenia Fisher-Smith, founder of the F.E.A.R. MKE, a Milwaukee, WI-based run crew that focuses on diversity, prioritises runner safety and aims to bridge the fitness gap. “It’s just ingrained that women are supposed to do all this stuff, and men are like, well, you didn’t have to cook or you didn’t have to do whatever. But women have this mentality of, well, who else is going to do it then?”
Women across the world spend nearly three more hours per day than men on unpaid care and domestic work according to a 2023 UN Women’s report. This is often called the free-time gender gap and it’s no surprise that it impacts exercise levels.
It’s not just the physical labour of caring for yourself, your partner, your kids, your parents, your friends, it’s the emotional labour that women often experience as the “more nurturing” gender. “Women have so many demands on our time and only so much time in the day – and I think exercise and the commitment to the time that takes is often something women fold on so they can give that time back to the other demands in their life,” says Meghann Featherstun, a registered sports dietitian.
And then there’s this sense that prioritising yourself over your partner, your kids, your job and so on is selfish. “I get pissed when people say that,” says Featherstun. “I’ll have people reach out on social media and be like, don’t you feel selfish leaving your kids for a long run on Saturday mornings? And I’m like no, no, no – the problem is that you are feeling selfish.” That’s not a dig at other women; it’s a condemnation of the societal expectation that women should always put someone else first.
When you always put other people ahead of yourself, the one who actually loses out is usually… you. That’s one of the reasons Megan Searfoss, owner of Ridgefield Running Company in Ridgefield, CT, and founder of Run Like a Mother, started the women-only Run Like a Mother 5K race series. “Women need time to themselves,” Searfoss says. “I often get asked if they can bring a stroller to the race and I always say yes, but then the race isn’t really about you. Those moments when you step out of the door to run, whether you’re on your own or with friends, that’s super special. It’s your time, a time when you can actually sort of dig deep into your own self. I always say I solve the world’s problems when I run – or, at least, my own problems.”
It’s the old oxygen mask analogy: you’re supposed to put your own mask on before trying to help others. You can’t help anyone else if you’re not breathing. So if you’re not taking care of yourself, how can you be the best mother, partner, boss, employee?
“I think people have to understand how important it is to create time for exercise because of how impactful it can be on the rest of your life,” says Meagan Murray, managing partner of Believe in the Run. “It’s 100 percent worth it to take that extra time to yourself if it means you’re going to be a better human to everyone around you.”
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
The current community-driven fitness boom is helping to break down some of the barriers to exercise that women face throughout their lifetime.
In 2024, there was a 59 percent increase in running clubs on Strava, according to the fitness tracking app’s annual Year In Sport report – and an 89 percent increase in women joining Strava clubs. Over a third of women in the ASICS study said that their friends – plus parents and romantic partners – are their most important exercise influences, noting that they’re more motivated to exercise by women like themselves than celebrities.
That’s been a driving force behind F.E.A.R. MKE. “I think you have to see yourself in someone a little bit in order to make what they’re doing achievable,” says Fisher-Smith. Social media presents a perfectly curated snapshot where “having it all” can seem easy breezy; it doesn’t often show the messy underside of real life. “But when someone runs with me at F.E.A.R., they know exactly what I’m doing,” explains Fisher-Smith. “They know I’m going to work every day, they know I was planning a wedding, they know I sit on the boards of local organisations, they know me. It’s tangible.”
Just seeing other women make themselves – and their fitness – a priority is a powerful thing. Communities like F.E.A.R. address exercise barriers like intimidating environments, low self-confidence and not feeling sporty enough. There’s power in numbers when it comes to safety (“I wasn’t a fan of running by myself. Now, I have 30 other people to run with,” says Fisher-Smith), but also in terms of representation. “Most of our leaders are women and just seeing someone who looks like you, who’s wearing whatever they want, can be encouraging,” says Fisher-Smith.
For Searfoss, a mother of three who has built a business around making running more accessible to women, running started as a way to fit exercise in even when she had barely any time to herself; as the years passed, “it just sort of became the fabric of my life and how I prioritised myself and connected with other women even as I moved multiple times,” she says. “When I don’t have that time to work, I don’t feel like myself.”
“Women are socialised from a young age to take care of others before themselves and it’s especially hard to overcome that once they’re mothers,” says Dlugonski. Almost two-thirds of mothers cited motherhood as the primary reason they dropped out of doing regular exercise or sport altogether in the ASICS study. But for Searfoss, that commitment to her routine is what helped her realise that the world actually wouldn’t come to a screeching halt if she bucked the norm by setting aside time to work out.
BREAKING THE CYCLE
You can’t fix a problem this pervasive overnight. And it may seem overwhelming to try to wrap your head around all the things that act as obstacles to exercise, but “normalising that a lot of us feel this way – that you’re not alone in this – is step one,” says Featherstun. “If we’re not talking about it then there’s no way that we can be supported and create change,” adds Fisher-Smith.
Talking is a start, but “the real solution is actionable,” says Dlugonski. “We can find people in our communities who are doing these things and we can build spaces and communities where we can connect through movement.” Fisher-Smith does that through F.E.A.R.; Searfoss does that at Ridgefield Running Company; Murray does that by bringing more female voices on to the Believe in the Run platform; and Featherstun does that by educating her clients and followers about nutrition. But anyone, anywhere can take action by creating safe environments where women don’t feel judged and are surrounded by positive role models – and where exercise is affordable and accessible.
Inspired by the empowering conversations that drove the Move Her Mind study focus groups, ASICS will continue to create these spaces with the Move Her Mind event series, a US tour that will kick off at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in Washington, DC in April and culminate at the first-ever Move Her Mind Summit in the fall.
“The goal is to encourage more intimate conversations about getting and staying active and healthy,” says Murray. “We’ll bring in experts to help educate people, women to share their own stories and really try to help women understand the importance of prioritising exercise despite these barriers.” It’s hard to leave a small group setting – one in which you are face to face with other women who are struggling with the same challenges, as well as women who have overcome (or are at least handling) those challenges – without feeling inspired and motivated.
“We’re really just trying to cultivate more small group conversations and bring in different experts to help address some of the main barriers that are getting in the way of exercise for women,” says Featherstun. “Let’s be honest: any time we leave a more intimate group setting, especially as far as running goes, we’re more motivated.”
And that’s still only the beginning. “Women have to figure out how to get out the door, but once they do that, running stores, clubs and other women can encourage these conversations and welcome those women,” says Searfoss. “At the end of the day, it’s just about helping women to understand that it doesn’t matter how you do it, it just matters that you move. If you stop moving forward, you start shutting down.”
Of course, it’s not just up to women – men, regardless of their current perceptions around the barriers women face, can also rise to the challenge of making exercise more accessible. And when everyone recognises how important exercise is for someone’s whole wellbeing, dismantling the barriers to it becomes less of an individual burden.
“The biggest takeaway I want people to get from this study is that there’s a role for everyone to play,” says Dlugonski. “This has been a problem for a long time – it starts as early as preschool and we see this exercise gap continue pretty much throughout the lifespan. Whether that’s supporting the active pursuits of girls and women in your own life, providing opportunities in your community, creating advocacy systems, policy work, whatever your thing is – man, woman, it doesn’t matter your age – there’s a space for everyone.”
