Why Workplace Wellbeing Fails Women, And How Identity-Led Support Can Finally Close the Gap

By Jane Msumba, founder of Inner Glow Clinic

For years, workplace wellbeing has focused on one thing: giving employees more information. More nutrition workshops. More step-count challenges. More reminders to “prioritise self-care.” And yet, year after year, women continue to report declining wellbeing, rising stress, and worsening health outcomes, even when they know exactly what they “should” be doing. Vitality’s 2024 Health Insights Report reveals a powerful truth: a large percent of women don’t meet recommended activity levels, despite having more access to wellbeing information than ever before. Even more importantly, women named their biggest barriers as:

• Lack of motivation (82%)
• Lack of enjoyment (65%)
• Fear of judgment (62%)

These aren’t educational gaps. These are emotional, identity-driven, psychological barriers, and they require a fundamentally different kind of support.

The Emotional Load Women Carry Is Invisible in Most Wellbeing Programmes

Women today operate under intensely high-pressure professional roles, while also navigating caregiving responsibilities, hormonal shifts, workplace bias, perfectionism culture, and the expectation to “hold everything together.”

Yet most corporate wellbeing offerings are designed as if women’s lives mirror men’s:

• Generic exercise challenges that overlook fear of judgment or low confidence
• Nutrition workshops that ignore emotional/stress eating triggered by burnout
• Productivity training that treats fatigue as a mindset issue instead of a physiological one
• “Resilience” sessions that pressure women to push harder instead of rest deeper

True wellbeing for women cannot come from programmes built around discipline, willpower, or one-size-fits-all advice.

Women don’t need to be told what to do, they need spaces that help them understand why it feels so hard to do it, and who they need to become for the change to feel natural.

Why Traditional Workplace Wellbeing Isn’t Working

Most wellbeing programmes still rest on three outdated assumptions:

• “If people know better, they’ll do better.” Women already know the basics. But knowing is not the same as feeling safe, supported, or capable of change.
• “Consistency comes from discipline.” In reality, consistency comes from identity, from aligning new habits with the future version of oneself rather than forcing behaviour through pressure or guilt.
• “Willpower is the problem.” Women are not lacking willpower. They’re often depleted, overwhelmed, overstretched, and emotionally taxed.

The truth is simple: Workplace wellbeing fails women because it ignores the emotional and identity-led barriers driving their habits.

The Identity-Led Approach: Where Neuroscience Meets Self-Compassion

A growing body of neuroscience shows that behaviour change is not primarily driven by logic, but by imagery, emotion, and identity.

Tools like Functional Imagery Training (FIT), future-self visualisation, emotional regulation, and subconscious habit rewiring help women:

• Shift from “I should exercise” to “I am someone who honours my body”
• Move from stress-eating to inner calm and emotional clarity
• Reconnect with their values rather than guilt-driven motivation
• Build routines that feel intuitive, not forced
• Create internal safety so habits don’t collapse under pressure
• Identity-led approaches allow women to step into the version of themselves who already feels capable, well, energised, and aligned.

This is the missing layer in workplace wellbeing, the inner world shaping the outer habits.

Women Need Softness, Safety, and Personalisation, Not More Pressure

Women thrive in environments where they feel:

• Seen
• Safe
• Emotionally supported
• Free from judgment
• Guided rather than instructed

That means shifting from: restriction → nourishment motivation → alignment pressure → safety discipline → identity

Women-centred wellbeing acknowledges reality: Our habits do not arise randomly. They grow from our coping patterns, beliefs, stress levels, physiology, and cultural expectations.

Supporting women requires meeting them where they are, not where we think they “should” be.

It’s Time for Workplaces to Close the Gender Wellbeing Gap

Women now spend 1.5× more on personal health and wellbeing compared to men (Integrated Care Journal, 2024). Not because they want luxury routines, but because they’re desperately seeking support that finally sees them.

This is a pivotal moment for organisations. Workplaces that embrace identity-led, emotionally intelligent wellbeing will see:

• Better engagement
• Reduced burnout
• Fewer long-term health issues
• Improved retention
• Stronger culture
• Women who feel empowered rather than overwhelmed

This isn’t just a wellbeing upgrade, it’s a cultural transformation.