Psychological empowerment and exercising: The relationships between exercising, self‐stereotyping, agency, autonomy and physical self‐efficacy in non‐Western women

Abstract

Despite recent efforts towards equality, there are still gender disparities in Middle Eastern societies, where women are often discouraged from viewing themselves as autonomous, competent and self‐determining individuals due to the internalization of traditional gender norms. Research on women's empowerment in multicultural and non‐Western societies is scarce. In the absence of other interventions, exercising has been effective in increasing women's psychological and physical strength. The present study focused on women (N = 250) living in a non‐Western and multicultural environment, aiming to assess whether (a) self‐stereotyping negatively correlates with factors of empowerment (operationalized as a sense of autonomy, agency and self‐efficacy) and exercising, (b) exercising is positively associated with factors of empowerment and (c) if exercising would mediate the hypothesized relationship of self‐stereotyping on empowerment. Secondly, the study also qualitatively explored the subjectively reported exercising motives and outcomes. The results of quantitative analyses confirmed that self‐stereotyping was negatively correlated with autonomy and agency, but not with physical self‐efficacy. Exercising was positively correlated with all the factors of empowerment and negatively with self‐stereotyping. The structural equation modelling supported the intermediary role of exercising in the associations between self‐stereotyping and autonomy and agency. The qualitative analysis revealed that although the participants principally exercised for health‐related motives, the reported outcome was primarily reflective of experiences of empowerment. The findings could be used to inform current policies and interventions geared towards women to support and promote their physical and psychological well‐being.