A women's gym

One of the most frequently asked questions I get about living in Tunisia (by like minded women who'd also like to emigrate) is: are there women's only gyms there? 

I must say that when I speak of Tunisia, I usually speak of the region we live in. There are a lot of differences between the different regions, especially when you compare the central/southern regions (like where we live) with the more affluent coastal/northern regions. Despite the regional differences, and our region being a little less "modernized", the answer is yes, there are. The other day we were driving through a village and we even saw a gym there. It's interesting if you think about it - gyms are quite a new phenomenon here, but so is being overweight. My husband told me that when living here as a kid, he didn't really know a lot of  people that were overweight. And yet, gyms were nowhere to be found. Sadly, these days, being overweight is becoming more common, especially with all the junk in the stores that's being sold more and more. So the solution must be simply to sweat off all that extra calories then (and to pay an arm and a leg for that...). 

My thoughts on gyms are quite unconventional and I even dare to say controversial. I don't really believe in having an inactive lifestyle for most of the week and then suddenly working out like crazy for a few hours per week to compensate on all that sitting. As they say, "sitting is the new smoking". While I don't think there is something comparable to a thing as bad as smoking health wise, I think there is some truth to this. Being inactive doesn't just affect your physical health, it's even affecting your mental health. So it's not that I don't believe in exercise- let that be clear. I just think it's much more effective to incorporate more physical activities into your daily life, rather than having a few extreme workouts per week with an otherwise very inactive lifestyle. 

Nowadays, people tend to have machines for about everything. And while I do love my washing machine (although I sometimes do small hand washes), I'm not interested to have everything done for me by others or by machines. I have never owned a dryer or dishwasher for example, and rarely use our vacuum- we just have a broom and dustpan that do the job just as good, with the additional benefit of having more physical exercise. Also, I regularly bake bread and don't have a kneading appliance or other types of bread maker, so the kneading is done by hand. My mother in law did this until she was in her late 70s, despite having many health issues. I'm not saying that everyone should deprive oneself from every convenience, but there is something in that old fashioned way of living that just makes sense to me. People can still combine convenience and being a bit more active in my opinion, so it's not either this or that. I think it's just cool to be able to do your everyday chores and stay fit at the same time, while saving money on all the expensive appliances you didn't have to buy for that specific purpose! If someone likes working out at a gym, and finds it important, I'm not against it. But at the same time I think it's important to think for ourselves and not just do something that society tells us to do "because otherwise it's unhealthy". Quite the contrary actually, in my opinion. 

So yes. There are women's gyms here, but it's not necessarily attended by many women because they keep themselves fit in other ways- walking their kids to school, housekeeping with a minimum of equipment, baking bread and much other things.