Research Report: Keeping Women Active in Winter – Barriers to Participation

Report contents

• What happens to women and sport in the winter?
• What do women say are the barriers?
• Overcoming barriers

Key findings

• Activity levels for both men and women decline in November, before dipping to the lowest level between December and February.
• A higher proportion of women drop out compared to men.
• The dropout rate from autumn to winter increases with age for women.

Barriers:

• Bad weather and fewer daylight hours.
• Motivational barriers (e.g. feeling tired or sluggish).
• Cultural barriers (e.g. winter is seen as a time to spend indoors and family events become a priority).
• Personal safety (e.g. being seen on the roads when its dark).

Recommendations

• Tailor initiatives for winter months and track progress to heighten sense of achievement and offer clear incentives.
• Build a social community.
• Create or tap into social media to support and encourage participation.
• Market the post-exercise ‘zing’ to help motivate women to stay active.
• Keep sport and exercise part of the conversation in the lead up to Christmas.
• Make it easy.