Freja Salhauge-Rasmussen and Zoe Matthews presented their recommendations to support women on coaching careers at a leading global conference.
Based on their MSc dissertation research – ‘Breaking the Ice: An Exploration into the Barriers and Supports Experienced by Female Snowsport England Coaches” – Freja and Zoe presented their findings at the Congreso AEISAD 2024 - Gisdor . Both studied a Sport Management, Politics and International Relations master’s degree at the University in 2022/23 and were supervised by Dr Susana Monserrat-Revillo.
Their research explored why, despite progressing levels of female participation in sport, women remain underrepresented in coaching roles, exploring the barriers and supports they experience and to shed light on possible reasons for their under-representation. Barriers encountered include: low perceived self-efficacy; family commitments; lack of female role models, limited mentoring and networking opportunities; lack of respect; zero-hour contracts and low pay. The data indicates that these barriers were underpinned by structures of gender, as stereotypical beliefs about women's abilities seem to permeate many of the coaches' lived experiences in England.
The conference was held in Seville (Spain) on 3 and 4 October and included the presentation of more than 100 communications and 2 prizes were awarded, one for the best research presented by established researchers and one for the best junior researchers, based on the work of undergraduate's or master's dissertations. Freja and Zoe were delighted to win the junior researcher award.