Does country-context matter? A cross-national analysis of gender and leisure time physical inactivity in Europe

It is well known that European women are less physically active in their leisure time than European men. Attempts to explain this gender difference often do not succeed in raising the problem above the individual level. However, the size of the disadvantage for women varies considerably across countries, proving that leisure time physical (in)activity takes place in a broader societal context and must also be approached as such. In this sense, some authors have explained women's lack of leisure time physical activity in terms of gendered power relations in society. Therefore, the present article postulates that over and above the individual effect of gender, there is an additional impact of a society's gender-based (in)equality distribution.