From tribes to treadmills: a case study of attitudes surrounding physical activity and gym use among a cohort of Bedouin women users in an all-female gym \ud

The twenty-first century marks an epoch of global urbanization—the transition from a rural, geographic locality to a population dense environment. Once a semi-nomadic people of the Negev Desert, the Bedouin population in Israel is not exempt from such processes of development, evident in the government sedentarization project beginning in 1965. Modernist, urban planning executed during the construction of the Bedouin towns was aimed at replicating Jewish towns, and in turn had an impact on issues of female modesty and intra-tribal tensions. Bedouin women, in particular, experience the effects of such an acute lifestyle transition due to \ud their role as females in a patriarchal society among a minority population. In an attempt to preserve modesty, Bedouin women face an impediment on mobility in the town environment due to the close proximity of unrelated tribes relocated into the same town. Due to the inherent challenge regarding female modesty, restrictions on mobility and independence limit a woman’s \ud opportunity to perform leisure time physical activity, despite the presence of proper infrastructure: sidewalks and green spaces. As a result, a temporal correlation exists between the sedentarization project and increased levels of obesity-related chronic disease in the town, with women experiencing higher rates of these diseases than men. The relationship between the built \ud environment and physical activity is a new research focus at the crossroads of urban planning and public health. Literature addressing the relationship between the built environment and physical activity in Muslim populations is limited, and almost nonexistent for Bedouin society. A survey distributed in an all-women’s gym, Al Najach Gym Hall, in Rahat, Israel served to capture the demographics and attitudes surrounding physical activity and gym use in a female Bedouin cohort (28 subjects) of gym users, and to assess their perceived barriers to healthy lifestyle behavior. The results of this modest qualitative survey will establish a foundation for future research aimed at improving infrastructure and policy toward healthy lifestyle practices \ud related to physical activity. \ud \u