Dias Vanessa, Calleja-Gonzalez Julio, López-Ros Víctor, Font-Lladó Raquel, Arede Jorge, Cunha Leonardo, Douka Stella, Rosa Bruno, Pinto Graça, Leite Nuno
Department of Sports Sciences, Exercise and Health, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2025 May 7;16:1560764. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560764. eCollection 2025.
The issue of gender inequality has a significant impact on the sporting world, with a range of implications and consequences. In the field of coaching, women are confronted with inequity throughout their careers, which frequently has a detrimental impact. To gain a deeper insight into the under-representation of women in sport coaching, framing the Female Sport Coaching Training Programme (FEMCoach) project, an investigation was carried out to examine coaches' educational support. After reviewing the scientific literature, a survey was developed aiming to analyse the needs of women youth sports coaches in practice to design coaching educational programmes that promote gender equity in youth sports.
The present study collected and analyzed survey data from 463 coaches (45% women and 55% men) from 24 different countries, sports and competitive levels. Coaches completed a 40-question online survey, divided into seven topics: (1) sociodemographic data, (2) the inclusion environment for sports practice, (3) coach professional activities, (4) menstrual cycle, hormonal contraception and pregnancy/childcare, (5) barriers for females in sport, (6) coaches' courses, and (7) gender differences.
Some differences were found between women and men coaches' perceptions regarding barriers or stigmas that women face in practice. Most women's [80% (±5%)] and approximately half of men's [54% (±5%)] believe that women coaches sometimes face discrimination and/or mistrust and most of the women's [78% (±6%)] and the majority of men's [64% (±5%)] recognize different opportunities for coaches between genders. Considering the presence of topics related to female biology in coaches' education process the majority of women [72% (±5%)] and men [63% (±5%)] considered that they were not approached enough, agreeing most of the coaches, women [92% (±3%)] and men [87% (±4%)], that coach education programmes should be more expanded to cover it. In open-ended questions coaches agreed that educational programmes can promote gender equality and mentioned a lack of contents related to equity, identity and female biology.
Finally, accepting the limitations, this survey study provides relevant contextual information and practical applications for coaching educational programmes targeting women coaches and athletes and insights for governing bodies and institutions to foster gender equality in coaching.
性别不平等问题对体育界有着重大影响，产生了一系列影响和后果。在教练领域，女性在整个职业生涯中都面临着不公平现象，这往往会产生不利影响。为了更深入地了解女性在体育教练中代表性不足的问题，构建女性体育教练培训计划（FEMCoach）项目，开展了一项调查以研究教练的教育支持情况。在回顾科学文献后，制定了一项调查，旨在分析青年女性体育教练在实践中的需求，以设计促进青年体育性别平等的教练教育计划。
本研究收集并分析了来自24个不同国家、体育项目和竞技水平的463名教练（45%为女性，55%为男性）的调查数据。教练们完成了一项包含40个问题的在线调查，分为七个主题：（1）社会人口统计学数据，（2）体育实践的包容环境，（3）教练专业活动，（4）月经周期、激素避孕与怀孕/育儿，（5）女性在体育中的障碍，（6）教练课程，以及（7）性别差异。
在女性和男性教练对女性在实践中面临的障碍或耻辱感的认知方面发现了一些差异。大多数女性[80%（±5%）]和大约一半的男性[54%（±5%）]认为女性教练有时会面临歧视和/或不信任，大多数女性[78%（±6%）]和大多数男性[64%（±5%）]认识到不同性别教练面临的不同机会。考虑到教练教育过程中存在与女性生理相关的主题，大多数女性[72%（±5%）]和男性[63%（±5%）]认为对此讨论不足，大多数教练，女性[92%（±3%）]和男性[87%（±4%）]都同意教练教育计划应更广泛地涵盖这方面内容。在开放式问题中，教练们一致认为教育计划可以促进性别平等，并提到缺乏与公平、身份认同和女性生理相关的内容。
最后，尽管承认存在局限性，但这项调查研究为针对女性教练和运动员的教练教育计划提供了相关背景信息和实际应用，并为管理机构和机构促进教练领域的性别平等提供了见解。
