Greater Manchester Women and Girls Activity Levels Nov 17-18

There are some stark gender inequalities in Greater Manchester. Statistics tell us that men are more active than women. In Greater Manchester, the gap between inactive males (25.5%) and inactive females (27.9%) is 2.4%. There was a slight gap decrease of 0.8% between November 2015-2016 and November 2017-2018. However, there is still much to be done.

Two women jogging through the park, smiling

How does Greater Manchester compare to the rest of the UK?

According to national data, there are more inactive females in Greater Manchester (27.9%) than on average across England (26.1%).

That’s a troubling statistic.

Across the boroughs themselves, inactivity levels also vary amongst adults of different genders. Female inactivity levels range from 22.7% in Stockport to 35% in Rochdale. Compare these figures to those for men, when inactivity levels are at their lowest in Manchester (20.5%) and their highest in Oldham (33.3%).

Inactivity is higher for females with a long-term disability or health condition in Greater Manchester than across the UK (44.7% v. 43%). However, this difference is less than the inactivity gap for males in the same group (44.5% in Greater Manchester v. 41.4% nationally).

Both male and female inactivity levels are wide ranging. But, it’s clear that there’s still statistically more inactive women than men across Greater Manchester. At GreaterSport, we know we need to work with you to change that.

What’s the relationship between gender and age?

We know that a healthy active lifestyle begins at a young age. However, among children and young people the gender inactivity gap is even larger.

These figures from childhood are worrying.

Statistics show that 34.4% of boys aged between five and 15 are not achieving an average of 30 minutes of activity a day, in comparison to 37.3% of girls the same age. This reveals the differences between male and female activity levels stem from childhood, with a 2.9% activity gap already apparent.
The gaps for achieving an average of 60 minutes of activity a day are even larger. There’s a 9.1% gap between boys (44.4%) and girls (37.3%), and still a 4% gap between adult men (62.7%) and women (58.7%).

As ages increase, so do levels of inactivity. Across Greater Manchester, inactivity levels in women and girls rise from 19.8% in the 16-34 age range to a startling 61% in the 75+ age category. This is also reflected across the genders: the inactivity gaps between women and men rises with age, in line with national statistics.
However, the 35-54 age group disrupts the trend. For this age range, inactivity is, in fact, higher amongst men than women in Greater Manchester by +1.5%. Though this a small difference, the change is not reflected nationally.