Article Text
Abstract
Objective Our aim was to investigate (1) gender representation, (2) opportunities and training and (3) harassment experiences in Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) practitioners working in elite sport in Australia.
Methods All titled Australian Physiotherapy Association Sport and Exercise Physiotherapists, SEM Physicians and Registrars and doctors and physiotherapists (SEM practitioners) currently/previously/aspiring to work in Australian elite sport were invited to participate in a bespoke online survey and the Gender Experiences Questionnaire.
Results For SEM practitioners currently working in elite sport, men worked more paid hours each week (mean difference (MD) 12.2 (95% CI 5.5 to 19.0)) and more paid weeks each year (MD 6.8 (95% CI 1.2 to 12.5)). Women SEM practitioners (both currently and previously) were more likely than men to work with women, rather than men athletes. All women SEM practitioners experienced significantly more gender harassment, infantilisation, work/family policing and gender policing than men. For SEM practitioners (both current and previous), there were no gender differences in how practitioners found out about or were recruited to their elite sports roles. Women were four times more likely than men to report that their gender or sexual orientation influenced their opportunities in elite sport. Most roles were not advertised with direct approach being the most common method of job recruitment.
Conclusion Women SEM practitioners currently working in elite sport worked less paid hours per week and less paid weeks per year. All SEM practitioners were appointed to positions without established procedures, and there were significant challenges for women SEM practitioners in the elite sport workplace with women facing considerably more gender harassment than men.
- Sport
- Women in sport
- Sexual harassment
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request.
Footnotes
X @PhysioHill, @m_girdwood, @melhabphysio, @AndreaBMosler, @AndreaBruder, @kirstyforsdike, @nickyjane1205, @kaymcrossley
Contributors SMC, ABM, KM and KMC designed the study. All authors helped to disseminate the survey. MG, SMC and KMC analysed the data. SMC drafted the manuscript, and all coauthors provided feedback and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published. All authors agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All authors agreed to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work have been appropriately investigated and resolved. SMC is the guarantor.
Funding This work was supported by Grant from The Australian Physiotherapy Association. The funders of the study had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the report or the decision to submit the article for publication.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, conduct, reporting or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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