“Males are always thought to have more expertise than females regardless of their experience. Males are paid more than females. Males have more opportunities than females. It is difficult to have a family as a female and retain your position, or you feel like you can't have a family otherwise you won't get a position.” - 34-year-old woman working in elite sport and exercise medicine
Women physiotherapists and doctors working in elite and professional sport are paid less, get less work and face more harassment than men, an Australian-first study by La Trobe University has found.
While gender inequity or harassment for sport and exercise medicine (SEM) practitioners in elite sport has been perceived for a long time, this is the first comprehensive study of women’s experiences in the field.
The study, published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, surveyed 223 people, 68 per cent of whom were physiotherapists, 61 per cent working in elite sport, and an almost equal number of men and women.
Study lead, Dr Sallie Cowan, Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, said the results highlighted a hard truth: “It’s hard to be a woman in the elite sport and exercise management workplace.”
“Women physios and doctors working in elite sport in Australia experience significantly more gender inequality and harassment than men. They also work less paid hours per week and less paid weeks per year than men,” Dr Cowan said.
“Men are also more likely to work with men athletes – reflecting their dominance in Australian SEM roles – and roles with men’s teams are commonly considered more prestigious and are better paid.”
The report says the under representation of women in sports leadership is a significant problem that exacerbates/reflects gender inequity, enables gender harassment and discrimination, and undermines the participation and aspiration of women and girls in the sports domain.
It highlights cultural, structural, organisational and personal barriers to women entering and sustaining SEM leadership roles, including gender stereotypes, inadequate childcare, inflexible working hours, hierarchical structures, and a lack of appropriate training and mentoring.
“Whilst some of these barriers also present challenges for men, the impact of those barriers is disproportionately greater for women who spend twice as much time as men undertaking childcare and unpaid household work,” the report says.
“Women SEM physicians world-wide perceive significantly more disrespectful attitudes, have their judgement questioned and are sexually harassed more than their men counterparts.”
Study participants highlighted their own experiences of discrimination within the industry:
“I have applied for many performance roles and have lost every one of them to males, many less qualified than myself. This includes roles with women's high-performance teams. I've heard female athletes refer to their medical team as ‘the boys’ club’. The female athletes have asked for female health professionals (or at least one) and have an entire medical team of males.” - 37-year-old woman working in elite sport
“I have in the past felt a bias towards ‘women work with women's teams and men work with men's teams'. In general in the AFL system, the sports med team is paid approx 50 per cent less than the men’s program staff.” - 30-year-old woman working in elite sport
“I am white heterosexual male and accept a decent percentage of my career success is due to privilege that others may not have had.” - 52-year-old man working in elite sport
“You have to work twice as hard as a female to show that you are competent.” - 44-year-old woman working in elite sport
Dr Cowan said the longstanding gender inequity and harassment in the SEM workplace must be acknowledged, and organisations need to do better to break the cycle so the pattern is not repeated for future generations.
The report calls for affirmative action to eliminate gender bias in the sport and exercise management workplace.
The authors say elite sporting organisations must:
- Recognise and address gender harassment in the workplace
- Set targets for gender equality
- Say no to gender pay inequity
- Establish formal and transparent recruitment processes for equitable access to SEM careers in elite sport
The study, You have to work twice as hard as a woman to show that you are competent: Experiences, opportunities and workplace gender harassment for Sport and Exercise Medicine practitioners working in elite sport in Australia, was supported with funding by the Australian Physiotherapists Association.
Media enquiries
Charisse Ede – c.ede@latrobe.edu.au, 0404 030 698
