It all adds up: A gender-based social marketing campaign to increase physical activity

Background:  Gender, the socially constructed roles and activities deemed appropriate for men and women, is an important factor in women’s physical inactivity. The Healthy By Design Coalition in Yellowstone County, Montana, utilized a gender-based approach to develop a social marketing campaign to increase leisure-time physical activity for women.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted utilizing the Gender Analysis Framework of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to determine the gender-based factors which contribute to physical inactivity for women and identify gender-based opportunities which would enable physical activity.

Results: Women viewed physical activity in terms of structured exercise in a gym. They reported a lack of time for formal exercise due to caregiving responsibilities and household chores. These gender-based activities were not viewed as physical activity. In addition, women reported a strong sense of responsibility to role model healthy behavior for their families, but when time was limited felt the need to take care of others first.

Utilizing these findings, a social marketing campaign was developed to focus on gender-based activities women engaged in, but did not consider to be physical activity. The campaign theme, “It all adds up” was designed to focus on accumulated activity which would be less likely to be derailed by gender-based caregiving role expectations.

Conclusions: While time is frequently mentioned as a barrier to physical activity for women, a deeper understanding of gender roles and activities provides a framework for developing a social marketing campaign to encourage accumulated physical activity that fits within a woman’s role.