In Saudi Arabia, Women's Fitness Boom Defies Norms
- Women-only Saudi gyms expanding to meet growing demand
- Conservative culture, licensing pose challenge to industry
Susan Turner, chief executive officer of NuYu, a chain of women's-only fitness centers in Saudi Arabia, at the gym's branch in Al Waha, Riyadh. Since opening in 2012, NuYu has spread to three locations with almost 4,000 members.
Photographer: Vivian Nereim/BloombergWith blacked-out windows and a tiny sign, NuYu fitness center in Riyadh looks abandoned from the road. But inside it’s bustling, with Saudi women stripping off black abayas to reveal colorful athletic gear and pedaling furiously in a burlesque-themed spinning studio.
Founded by a daughter of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, the gym exemplifies the tensions inherent in women’s fitness in the Arab world’s biggest economy and birthplace of Islam. The growing number of women-only gyms in the kingdom are reporting a booming business, part of a gradual opening of women’s lives as they enter the workforce in greater numbers and are exposed to other cultures through social media and travel.