TOKYO – The proportion of women between the ages of 20 and 40 in Japan who were in the habit of playing sports every day has fallen sharply since 2012, a survey by the Japan Sports Agency has revealed.
According to the results of the fiscal year 2021 fitness survey released by the agency on Oct. 12, the figure for most men in the same age range stayed the same or increased.
One expert speculated that the downward trend among women is due to factors including the disproportionate burden of housework and childcare, adding that Japan needs to create an environment to make it easier for women to play sports. and exercise.
The survey has been conducted annually since 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics, to study people’s physical fitness and athletic ability. A total of 48,384 people aged 6 to 79 participated in the latest survey between May and October 2021.
In addition to physical fitness tests such as grip strength and sit-ups, participants were asked about their fitness and exercise habits. Subjects aged 20 years and older were divided into five-year cohorts and changes since the fiscal year 2012 survey were examined.
There was a pronounced female-male divide in “sports participation rate” — the proportion who play sports at least one day a week — among age cohorts who need to balance work and parenting. The number of women between the ages of 20 and 40 was in the 30% range, 2 to 6.9 percentage points less than in the fiscal year 2012 survey. On the other hand, the percentage of men between the ages of 30 and 40 increased from 0.5 to 6 points.
As for the 35-39 age cohort, where the gender gap was especially significant, the participation rate for women has continued to decline steadily since FY2012, from 38.3% to 31.9%. For its part, the rate for men continued to rise, from 45.8% to 51%.
Noriko Sekine, a professor of exercise physiology at the Open University of Japan, noted that while there are gender and generational differences in the level of interest in sports, “with the rise of two-income households, women generally spend more time to parenting”. and housework, which can make a difference.
(Original in Japanese by Yongho Lee, Tokyo City News Department)
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