{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T17:41:29Z","timestamp":1792604489716,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792540800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Against the backdrop of consumption upgrading and growing gender consciousness, the \u201cShe-Economy\u201d has emerged as an important socio-economic phenomenon driving market transformation and consumption restructuring. Women\u2019s participation in sports consumption has continued to increase, making women a significant consumer group within the sports industry. However, women\u2019s sports consumption is a contradictory field in which empowerment, identity formation, market discipline, gender norms, institutional neglect, and structural inequality coexist. Therefore, this study adopted a descriptive phenomenological design and employed literature review and semi-structured in-depth interviews with nine Chinese women who had sports consumption experience. Colaizzi\u2019s seven-step method was used to conduct thematic analysis of the interview data in order to explore the motivations and structural barriers underlying women\u2019s sports consumption within the context of the \u201cShe-Economy\u201d. The findings reveal that women\u2019s sports consumption is driven by multiple motivations, including health management, social interaction, self-realization, and market-driven incentives. Sports consumption not only reflects women\u2019s pursuit of physical health and emotional well-being, but also demonstrates the growing awakening of female subjectivity and lifestyle autonomy. However, women continue to face structural constraints in the process of sports consumption, including time pressure, economic costs, gender-role expectations, male-dominated sports spaces, and insufficient institutional support. These findings reflect a paradoxical coexistence between strengthened consumption motivation and restricted behavioral practice. The findings extend current understanding of women\u2019s sports consumption under the \u201cShe-Economy\u201d by showing that women\u2019s sports consumption is a socially negotiated practice in which individual agency and structural constraints continuously interact. The study also provides exploratory, context-specific insights into women-centered sports products and services, supportive socio-cultural environments, and more gender-responsive sports services, offering qualitative evidence for future research and practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0359201","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T17:21:58Z","timestamp":1792603318000},"page":"e0359201","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Exploring the motivation and structural barriers of women\u2019s sports consumption from the perspective of the \u201cShe-Economy\u201d"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-4155-1883","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yixuan","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Physical Education University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"],"department":["School of Sports Economics and Management"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tao","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xi\u2019an Physical Education University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"],"department":["School of Sports Economics and Management"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kaidi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Normal University","place":["Guilin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cuixia","family":"Yi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shaanxi Normal University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]]},"reference":[{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0359201.ref001","first-page":"31","article-title":"Social dynamics and historical experience of women\u2019s sports development in new China over 70 years","volume":"40","author":"H Xiong","year":"2020","journal-title":"China Sport Sci"},{"key":"pone.0359201.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1714685","DOI":"10.3389\/fcomm.2025.1714685","article-title":"Examining the empowering effect of femvertising from the corporate social responsibility perspective: A survey-based online experimental study in China","volume":"10","author":"R Feng","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Commun"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0359201.ref003","first-page":"11","article-title":"Development of sports consumption in China: Current characteristics and future prospects","volume":"39","author":"H Huang","year":"2019","journal-title":"China Sport Sci"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0359201.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1321","DOI":"10.1177\/10126902211068272","article-title":"U.S. women\u2019s sport consumption and self-identified fandom: An exploration of social structural and sociocultural antecedents","volume":"57","author":"FS Sutton","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int Rev Sociol Sport"},{"key":"pone.0359201.ref005","unstructured":"National Development and Reform Commission, et al. 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