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Gender and cultural diversity in sport, exercise, and performance psychology.

• Diane L. Gill Diane L. Gill University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.148
• Published online: 26 April 2017

Gender and cultural diversity are ever-present and powerful in sport, exercise, and performance settings. Our cultural identities affect our behaviors and interactions with others. As professionals, we must recognize and value cultural diversity. Gender and culture are best understood within a multicultural framework that recognizes multiple, intersecting identities; power relations; and the action for social justice. Physical activity participants are culturally diverse in many ways, but in other ways cultural groups are excluded from participation, and especially from power (e.g., leadership roles).

Sport, exercise, and performance psychology have barely begun to address cultural diversity, and the limited scholarship focuses on gender. Although the participation of girls and women has increased dramatically in recent years, stereotypes and media representations still convey the message that sport is a masculine activity. Stereotypes and social constraints are attached to other cultural groups, and those stereotypes affect behavior and opportunities. Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and physical characteristics all limit opportunities in physical activity settings. People who are overweight or obese are particularly subject to bias and discrimination in sport and physical activity. Cultural competence, which refers to the ability to work effectively with people of a different culture, is essential for professionals in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. Not only is it important for individuals to develop their own cultural awareness, understanding, and skills, but we must advocate for inclusive excellence in our programs and organizations to expand our reach and promote physical activity for the health and well-being of all.

• cultural competence
• stereotypes
• weight bias

Introduction

Cultural diversity is a hallmark of society and a powerful influence in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. Participants are diverse in many ways, and physical activity takes place in a culturally diverse world. People carry their gender and cultural identities everywhere. Importantly, culture affects our behaviors and interactions with others. Thus, it is essential that professionals recognize and value cultural diversity.

This article takes a broad view of culture, including gender and extending beyond race, ethnicity, and social class to include physicality (physical abilities and characteristics). The article begins with a guiding framework, then reviews scholarship on gender and culture, and concludes with guidelines for cultural competence.

Culture: Basics and a Guiding Framework

This first section draws from psychology and cultural studies to provide a guiding framework for understanding culture and moving toward cultural competence in professional practice. Culture , however, is complex and not easily defined. Narrow definitions emphasize ethnicity, but we will adopt the common practice and broaden the definition to shared values, beliefs, and practices of an identifiable group of people . Thus, culture includes gender as well as race and ethnicity, and extends to language, spirituality, sexuality, physicality, and so on. Multicultural psychology further emphasizes intersections of identities and the totality of cultural experiences and contexts, which leads to the guiding framework for this article.

Psychology, cultural studies, and related areas all emphasize multiple, intersecting cultural identities; highlight power relations; and call for social action and advocacy. First, we all have multiple, intersecting cultural identities . The mix of identities is unique to each person. For example, two young women may both identify as black, Christian women athletes. One may very strongly identify as a Christian athlete, whereas the other more strongly identifies as a black woman. Moreover, the salience of those identities may vary across contexts. For example, religious identity may be salient in family gatherings but not in athletics. Also, when you are the only person with your identity (e.g., the only girl on the youth baseball team, the only athlete in class), that aspect of your identity is more salient.

The second theme of our framework involves power relations . Culture is more than categories; culture is relational, and cultural relations involve power and privilege. That is, one group has privilege, and other groups are oppressed. Privilege refers to power or institutionalized advantage gained by virtue of valued social identities. Oppression refers to discrimination or systematic denial of resources to those with inferior or less valued identities. Given that we all have many cultural identities, most people have some identities that confer privilege and other identities that lead to oppression. If you are white, male, heterosexual, educated, or able-bodied, you have privilege in that identity; you are more likely to see people who look like you in positions of power and to see yourself in those roles. At the same time, you likely have other identities that lack privilege. Most of us find it easier to recognize our oppression and more difficult to recognize our own privilege.

Recognizing privilege is a key to understanding cultural relations, and that understanding leads to the third theme— action and advocacy . Action and advocacy calls for professionals to develop their own cultural competencies and to work for social justice in our programs and institutions.

Understanding cultural diversity and developing cultural competence is not easy. As well as recognizing multiple, intersecting cultural identities, power relations and action for social justice, sport, exercise, and performance psychologists also must retain concern for the individual. The importance of individualizing professional practice is rightfully emphasized. Cultural competence involves contextualizing professional practice and specifically recognizing cultural context. The ability to simultaneously recognize and consider both the individual and the cultural context is the essence of cultural competence.

Gender and Cultural Diversity in Sport and Physical Activity

Physical activity participants are diverse, but not as diverse as the broader population. Competitive athletics are particularly limited in terms of cultural diversity. School physical education and community sport programs may come closer to reflecting community diversity, but all sport and physical activities reflect cultural restrictions. Gender is a particularly visible cultural influence, often leading to restrictions in sport, exercise and performance settings.

In the United States, the 1972 passage of Title IX prohibiting sex discrimination in educational institutions marked the beginning of a move away from the early women’s physical education model toward the competitive women’s sport programs of today. Participation of girls and women in youth and college sport has exploded in the last generation, particularly in the United States and western European nations. Still, the numbers of female and male participants are not equal. Sabo and Veliz ( 2012 ), in a nationwide study of U.S. high schools, found that overall boys have more sport opportunities than girls, and furthermore, progress toward gender equity, which had advanced prior to 2000 , had reversed since then, resulting in a wider gender gap. Following a 2013 conference in Europe ( http://ec.europa.eu/sport/news/2014/gender_equality_sport_en.htm ), a group of experts developed the report: Gender Equality in Sport: Proposal for Strategic Actions 2014–2020 ( http://ec.europa.eu/sport/events/2013/documents/20131203-gender/final-proposal-1802_en.pdf ).

In considering cultural diversity, it is important to go beyond participation numbers to consider power and privilege. Richard Lapchick’s Racial and Gender Report Card shows racial and gender inequities with little progress. For example, the 2015 report card (Lapchick, 2015 ) indicates that African Americans are slightly overrepresented in U.S. Division I athletics, but other racial and ethnic minorities are very underrepresented (see more statistics and reports at the Institute for Diversity and Ethnics in Sport website: www.tidesport.org ). Reports also show clear power relations. Before Title IX ( 1972 ), more than 90 percent of women’s athletic teams in the United States were coached by women and had a woman athletic director. Today less than half of women’s teams are coached by women (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014 ). White men dominate coaching, even of women’s teams, and administration remains solidly white male. The 2015 racial report card indicated that whites hold 90 percent of the athletic director positions, and less than 10 percent are women.

Although data are limited, the international coaching trends are similar (Norman, 2008 ) and suggest even fewer women coaches at the youth level than at the collegiate and elite levels (Messner, 2009 ). The 2012 London Olympics showcased women athletes and also demonstrated intersecting cultural relations. The United States sent more female than male athletes to London, but women were vastly underrepresented in several delegations; coaching positions are heavily dominated by men, and Olympic officials are not as diverse as the athletes.

Considering exercise, recreation, and the wider range of activities, we see more diversity, but all physical activity is limited by gender, race, socioeconomic status, and especially physical attributes. Lox, Martin Ginis, and Petruzzello ( 2014 ) summarized research and large national surveys on physical activity trends from several countries, predominantly in North America and Europe, noting that evidence continues to show that physical activity decreases across the adult life span, with men more active than women, while racial and ethnic minorities and low-income groups are less active. Physical activity drops dramatically during adolescence, more so for girls than boys, and especially for racial or ethnic minorities and lower income girls (Kimm et al., 2002 ; Pate, Dowda, O’Neill, & Ward, 2007 ).

The World Health Organization (WHO, 2014 ) identifies physical inactivity as a global health problem, noting that about 31 percent of adults are insufficiently active. Inactivity rates are higher in the Americas and Eastern Mediterranean and lowest in Southeast Asia, and men are more active than women in all regions. Abrasi ( 2014 ) reviewed research on barriers to physical activity with women from unrepresented countries, as well as immigrants and underrepresented minorities in North America and Europe. Social responsibilities (e.g., childcare, household work), cultural beliefs, lack of social support, social isolation, lack of culturally appropriate facilities, and unsafe neighborhoods were leading sociocultural barriers to physical activity. Observing others in the family or neighborhood participating had a positive influence.

Despite the clear influence of gender and culture on physical activity behavior, sport, exercise and performance psychology has been slow to recognize cultural diversity. Over 25 years ago, Duda and Allison ( 1990 ) called attention to the lack of research on race and ethnicity, reporting that less than 4 percent of published papers considered race or ethnicity, and most of those were sample descriptions. In an update, Ram, Starek, and Johnson ( 2004 ) reviewed sport and exercise psychology journal articles between 1987 and 2000 for both race and ethnicity and sexual orientation content. They confirmed the persistent void in the scholarly literature, finding only 20 percent of the articles referred to race/ethnicity and 1.2 percent to sexual orientation. Again, most were sample descriptions, and Ram et al. concluded that there is no systematic attempt to include the experiences of marginalized groups.

Considering that conference programs might be more inclusive than publications, Kamphoff, Gill, Araki, and Hammond ( 2010 ) surveyed the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) conference program abstracts from the first conference in 1986 to 2007 . Only about 10 percent addressed cultural diversity, and most of those focused on gender differences. Almost no abstracts addressed race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social class, physical disabilities, or any other cultural diversity issue.

Just as publications and conference programs reflect little diversity, our journal editorial boards and professional organizations have been dominated by men, with few women leaders until very recently. The International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), which was the first organization founded in 1965 , had all men presidents for over 25 years. AASP began in 1985 with John Silva as president, followed by seven male presidents before Jean Williams became president in 1993 . Similarly, APA Division 47 (Exercise & Sport Psychology) had all male presidents from 1986 until Diane Gill became president more than 10 years later. Nearly all of those presidents have been North American or European and white.

An additional consideration is that our major journals have little international reach. Papaioannou, Machaira, and Theano ( 2013 ) found that the vast majority (82 percent) of articles over 5 years in six major journals were from English-speaking countries, and the continents of Asia, Africa, and South America combined had less than 4 percent. Papaionnau et al. noted a high correlation between continents’ representation on editorial boards and publications, suggesting possible systematic errors or bias in the review process.

The International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (IJSEP) recently (Schinke, Papaioannou, & Schack, 2016 ) addressed this issue with a special issue on sport psychology in emerging countries. Sørensen, Maro, and Roberts ( 2016 ) reported on gender differences in an HIV/AIDS education intervention through soccer in Tanzania. The program is community-based and delivered by young peer coaches. Their findings highlight cultural intersections and the importance of considering gender along with local culture in programs. Other articles in that special issue report on Botswana’s active sport psychology in both educational programs and with national teams (Tshube & Hanrahan, 2016 ), and the established and continuing sport psychology in Brazil, which includes major research programs on physical activity and well-being as well as applied sport psychology (Serra de Queiroz, Fogaça, Hanrahan, & Zizzi, 2016 ).

Gender Scholarship in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

In reviewing the scholarship on cultural diversity, we first focus on gender, which is especially prominent in sport and physical activity, and thus, particularly relevant for sport, exercise, and performance psychology. Gender scholarship in psychology has shifted from early research on sex differences to more current social perspectives emphasizing intersecting identities and cultural relations.

Sex Differences

In their classic review of the early psychology research on sex differences, Maccoby and Jacklin ( 1974 ) concluded that few conclusions could be drawn from the literature on sex differences. Ashmore ( 1990 ) later concluded that average differences are elusive, and the evidence does not support biological dichotomous sex-linked connections. More recent reviews confirm those conclusions.

Hyde ( 2005 ) reviewed 46 meta-analyses of the extensive literature on sex differences and concluded that results support the gender similarities hypothesis. That is, males and females are more alike than different on psychological variables, and overstated claims of gender differences cause harm and limit opportunities. Zell, Krizan, and Teeter ( 2015 ) used metasynthesis to evaluate the many meta-analyses on sex differences. They found that the vast majority of differences were small and constant across age, culture, and generations, and concluded that the findings provide compelling support for the gender similarities hypothesis.

Social Perspectives and Stereotypes

Today, most psychologists look beyond the male–female dichotomy to social-cognitive models and cultural relations. As sociologist Bernard ( 1981 ) proposed over 30 years ago, the social worlds for females and males are different even when they appear similar. Today, the social worlds are still not the same for girls and boys in youth sport, male and female elite athletes, or women and men in exercise programs.

Gender stereotypes are particularly pervasive in sport and physical activity. Metheny ( 1965 ) identified gender stereotypes in her classic analysis, concluding that it was not appropriate for women to engage in activities involving bodily contact, force, or endurance. Despite women’s increased participation, those gender stereotypes persist 50 years later. Continuing research (e.g., Hardin & Greer, 2009 ; Riemer & Visio, 2003 ) confirms that expressive activities (e.g., dancing, gymnastics) are seen as feminine; combative, contact sports as masculine; and other activities (e.g., tennis, swimming) as neutral.

Sport studies scholars have continued that research, with emphasis on sport media. Early research (e.g., Messner, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993 ) showed that female athletes receive much less and different coverage, with the emphasis on athletic ability and accomplishments for men and on femininity and physical attractiveness for women. Despite the increased participation of girls and women at all levels, the media coverage has not changed much. In the most recent update of a 25-year longitudinal study, Cooky, Messner, and Musto ( 2015 ) found televised coverage of women’s sport “dismally low” with no progress. Media representations are a major source of stereotypes, and evidence indicates that all forms of the media send the message that sport is for men.

Stereotypes are a concern because we act on them, restricting opportunities for everyone. Fredericks and Eccles ( 2004 , 2005 ) found that parents held gender-stereotyped beliefs and provided more opportunities and encouragement for sons than for daughters. Chalabaev, Sarrazin, and Fontayne ( 2009 ) found that stereotype endorsement (girls perform poorly in soccer) negatively predicted girls’ performance, with perceived ability mediating the relationship.

Chalabaev, Sarrazin, Fontayne, Boiche, and Clément-Guillotin ( 2013 ) reviewed the literature on gender stereotypes and physical activity, confirming the persistent gender stereotypes in sport and the influence of stereotypes on participation and performance. They further suggested that stereotypes may influence participation and behavior even if they are not internalized and believed. We know the stereotypes, and when situations call attention to the stereotype (e.g., there are only three girls on the co-ed team), it is especially likely to affect us. Beilock, Jellison, Rydell, McConnell, and Carr ( 2006 ) showed that telling male golfers the females performance better on a golf-putting task decreased their performance, and a follow-up study (Stone & McWhinnie, 2008 ) found females similarly susceptible to stereotype threat.

Gender and Physical Self-Perceptions . As part of Eccles’s continuing developmental research on gender and achievement, Eccles and Harrold ( 1991 ) confirmed that gender influences children’s sport achievement perceptions and behaviors and that these gender differences reflect gender-role socialization. Gender differences are larger in sport than in other domains, and as Eccles and Harold noted, even in sport the perceived gender differences are much larger than actual gender differences in sport-related skills.

Considerable research also shows that self-perceptions affect sport and physical activity behavior. For example, Jensen and Steele ( 2009 ) found that girls who experienced weight criticism and body dissatisfaction engaged in less vigorous physical activity. No similar results were found for boys, and so the researchers concluded that body dissatisfaction is important in girls’ physical activity. Slater and Tiggemann ( 2011 ) looked at gender differences in teasing, body self-perceptions, and physical activity with a large sample of adolescents and concluded that teasing and body image concerns may contribute to girls’ lower rates of participation in physical activity.

Physical activity also has the potential to enhance girls’ and women’s physical self-perceptions and activity. Several studies (e.g., Craft, Pfeiffer, & Pivarnik, 2003 ) confirm that exercise programs can enhance self-perceptions, and Hausenblas and Fallon’s ( 2006 ) meta-analysis found that physical activity leads to improved body image. Greenleaf, Boyer, and Petrie ( 2009 ) looked at the relationship of high school sport participation to psychological well-being and physical activity in college women. They found that body image, physical competence, and instrumentality mediated the relationship for both activity and well-being, suggesting that benefits accrue as a result of more positive self-perceptions.

Related research suggests that sport and physical activity programs can foster positive youth development, particularly for girls. A report for the Women’s Sports Foundation— Her Life Depends on It III (Staurowsky et al., 2015 )—updated previous reports and confirmed that physical activity helps girls and women lead healthy, strong, and fulfilled lives. That report, which reviewed over 1500 studies, documented the important role of physical activity in reducing the risk of major health issues (e.g., cancer, coronary heart disease, dementias) as well as depression, substance abuse, and sexual victimization. The report further concluded that all girls and women are shortchanged in realizing the benefits of physical activity and that females of color or with disabilities face even greater barriers.

Sexuality and Sexual Prejudice

Sexuality and sexual orientation are often linked with gender, but biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation are not necessarily related. Furthermore, male–female biological sex and homosexual–heterosexual orientations are not the clear, dichotomous categories that we often assume them to be. Individuals’ gender identities and sexual orientations are varied and not necessarily linked. Gender identity is one’s internal sense of being male or female. For transgender people, gender identity is not consistent with their biological sex (Krane & Mann, 2014 ).

Sexual orientation refers to one’s sexual or emotional attraction to others and is typically classified as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. Herek ( 2000 ) suggests that sexual prejudice is the more appropriate term for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but related scholarship typically refers to homophobia . As Krane and Mann ( 2014 ) point out, heterosexism , which refers to privilege of heterosexual people, is common in sport—we assume people are heterosexual, and we discriminate against those who do not fit heterosexist stereotypes. Also, we clearly discriminate on the basis of gender identity against transgender people.

Messner ( 2002 ) argues that homophobia leads boys and men to conform to a narrow definition of masculinity and bonds men together as superior to women. We expect to see men, but not women, take active, dominant roles expected of athletes. Despite the visibility of a few prominent gay and lesbian athletes and the very recent expansion of civil rights, sexual prejudice persists. Anderson ( 2011 ) suggests that men, and particularly gay men, have more latitude in sports today, but sport is still a space of restricted masculinity and sexual prejudice.

The limited data-based research confirms that sport is a hostile climate for lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. In one of the few empirical studies, Morrow and Gill ( 2003 ) reported that both physical education teachers and students witnessed high levels of homophobic and heterosexist behaviors in public schools. Gill, Morrow, Collins, Lucey, and Schultz ( 2006 ) subsequently examined attitudes toward racial and ethnic minorities, older adults, people with disabilities, and sexual minorities. Overall, attitudes were markedly more negative for both gay men and lesbians than for other minority groups, with males especially negative toward gay men. Vikki Krane ( 2001 ) (Barber & Krane, 2005 ; Krane & Barber, 2003 ; Krane & Mann, 2014 ; Krane & Symons, 2014 ) have done much of the related work in sport and exercise psychology, and that research indicates that sexual prejudice is common in sport at all levels. Most of that research is from North America and Europe, but hostile climates have been reported around the world. For example, Shang and Gill ( 2012 ) found the climate in Taiwan athletics hostile for those with nonconventional gender identity or sexual orientation, particularly for male athletes.

In a review of research on LGBT issues in sport psychology, Krane, Waldron, Kauer, and Semerjian ( 2010 ) found no articles focused on transgender athletes. Lucas-Carr and Krane ( 2011 ) noted that transgender athletes are largely hidden. Hargie, Mitchell, and Somerville ( 2015 ) interviewed 10 transgender athletes and found common themes of intimidation, alienation, fear of public spaces, and overall effects of being deprived of the social, health, and well-being aspects of sport. As Lucas-Carr and Krane concluded, creation of safe and compassionate sport settings for all athletes, including trans athletes, is an ethical responsibility. On a promising note, Krane and Symons ( 2014 ) described several programs that promote inclusive sport climates, including Fair go, sport! an Australian social inclusion project focusing on gender and sexual diversity.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment, which has clear gender and sexuality connotations, has received considerable attention in psychology (e.g., Koss, 1990 ). Kari Fasting and Celia Brackenridge have led much of the related research and programs on sexual harassment in sport. The related scholarship indicates that the sport climate fosters sexual harassment and abuse; that young, elite female athletes are particularly vulnerable; that neither athletes nor coaches have education or training about the issues; and that both research and professional development are needed in sport and exercise psychology to address the issues (Brackenridge, 2001 ; Brackenridge & Fasting, 2002 ; Fasting, Brackenridge, & Sundgot-Borgen, 2004 ; Fasting, Brackenridge, & Walseth, 2007 ). That research comes from several European countries and Australia. Rodriguez and Gill ( 2011 ) subsequently reported similar findings with former Puerto Rican women athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC, 2007 ) recognizes the problem and defines sexual harassment as “behavior towards an individual or group that involves sexualized verbal, non-verbal or physical behavior, whether intended or unintended, legal or illegal, that is based on an abuse of power and trust and that is considered by the victim or a bystander to be unwanted or coerced” (p. 3). Fasting ( 2015 ) recently reviewed the research and suggested building on the recent policies of major organizations such as the IOC to curb harassment, as well as continued research to advance systematic knowledge.

Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class

Race and ethnicity are just as salient as gender in sport and physical activity but have largely been ignored in our literature. As noted in the earlier section on gender and cultural diversity in sport and exercise psychology, there is a striking void in our journals on race and ethnicity, and virtually no research has been published on social class in sport, exercise, and performance psychology.

Although race and ethnicity are often conflated, they are not the same, and race is not a clear, biologically determined category. As Markus ( 2008 ) argued, race and ethnicity are not objective, identifying characteristics, but the meanings that we associate with those characteristics carry power or privilege. The psychology scholarship on race and ethnicity most relevant to sport, exercise, and performance psychology involves health disparities and stereotypes.

Race, Ethnicity, and Health Disparities

Health disparities are well documented, showing that racial and ethnic minorities and low-income people receive suboptimal health care (see 2011 National Health Quality and Disparities Reports; available at www.ahrq.gov ). Health disparities are relevant to sport, exercise, and performance psychology in that physical activity is a key health behavior.

Few studies have looked at race and ethnicity or social class disparities in relation to sport and physical activity. Heesch, Brown, and Blanton ( 2000 ) examined exercise barriers with a large sample of women over age 40, including African American, Hispanic, Native American, and white women. They found several common barriers, but they also reported variations by racial and ethnic group, and cautioned that their results and specific community needs precluded definitive guidelines for interventions. Crespo ( 2005 ) outlined the cultural barriers to physical activity for minority populations, including those with lower socioeconomic status, and called for professionals to consider unique needs and cultural constraints when giving advice on exercise. Ethnicity and social class are particularly relevant when considering migrant and refugee populations in Western countries. For example, Frisby ( 2011 ) interviewed Chinese immigrant women in Canada to better understand barriers and guidance for promising inclusion practices in sport and recreation. Promising practices included promoting citizen engagement, working from a broader social ecological framework, improving access policies, and fostering community partnerships to facilitate cross-cultural connections.

Stereotypes and Stereotype Threat

Steele’s ( 1997 ; Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002 ) extensive research on stereotype threat , which is the fear of confirming negative stereotypes, has been extended to sport. Steele’s research indicates that stereotype threat particularly affects those minority group members who have abilities and are motivated to succeed. Steele also suggests that simple manipulations (e.g., telling students test scores are not related to race) can negate the effects. Beilock and McConnell ( 2004 ) reviewed the stereotype threat in sport literature, concluding that negative stereotypes are common in sport and lead to performance decrements, especially when the performers are capable and motivated.

Racial and ethnic stereotypes are well documented. For example, Devine and Baker ( 1991 ) found that the terms unintelligent and ostentatious were associated with black athlete , and Krueger ( 1996 ) found that both black and white participants perceived black men to be more athletic than white men. Johnson, Hallinan, and Westerfield ( 1999 ) asked participants to rate attributes of success in photos of black, white, Hispanic, and composite male athletes. Success for the black athlete was attributed to innate abilities, but the white athlete’s success was reported to come from hard work and leadership ability. Interestingly, no stereotyping was evident for the Hispanic athlete.

More important, these stereotypes affect behavior. When Stone, Perry, and Darley ( 1997 ) had people listen to a college basketball game and evaluate players, they found that both white and black students rated black players as more athletic and white players as having more basketball intelligence. Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling, and Darley ( 1999 ) found that black participants performed worse on a golf task when told the test was of sport intelligence, whereas white participants performed worse when told the test was of natural ability.

Although much of the work on stereotype threat involves race and ethnicity, gender and athlete stereotype threat effects have also been found. Heidrich and Chiviacowsky ( 2015 ) found that female participants in the stereotype threat condition (they were told women do worse than men) had lower self-efficacy and performed worse on a soccer task than those in the nonstereotype threat condition. Feltz, Schneider, Hwang, and Skogsberg ( 2013 ) found that student-athletes perceive stereotype threat in the classroom, and those with higher athletic identity perceived more threat. They also found that perceived coach’s regard for their academic ability affected athletes’ susceptibility and could serve as a buffer to stereotype threat.

Physicality and Weight Bias

Sport, exercise, and performance are physical activities, and thus physical characteristics are prominent. Moreover, opportunity is limited by physical abilities, skills, size, fitness, and appearance. Exclusion on the basis of physicality is nearly universal in sport and physical activity, and this exclusion is a public health and social justice issue.

Physical Abilities and Disabilities . Rimmer ( 2005 ) notes that people with physical disabilities are one of the most inactive segments of the population, and argues that organizational policies, discrimination, and social attitudes are the real barriers. Gill, Morrow, Collins, Lucey, and Schultz ( 2010 ) examined the climate for minority groups (racial and ethnic minorities, LGB people, older adults, and people with disabilities) in organized sport, exercise, and recreational settings. Notably, the climate was rated as most exclusionary for people with disabilities.

Semerjian ( 2010 ), one of the few scholars who has addressed disability issues in sport and exercise psychology, highlights the larger cultural context as well as the intersections of race, gender, and class with physicality. Physical skill, strength, and fitness, or more correctly, the lack of skill, strength, and fitness, are key sources of restrictions and overt discrimination in sport and exercise. Physical size, particularly obesity, is a prominent source of social stigma, and weight bias is a particular concern.

Obesity and Weight Bias

Considerable research (e.g., Brownell, 2010 ; Puhl & Heuer, 2011 ) has documented clear and consistent stigmatization and discrimination of the obese in employment, education, and health care. Obese individuals are targets for teasing, more likely to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors, and less likely to engage in physical activity (Faith, Leone, Ayers, Heo, & Pietrobelli, 2002 ; Puhl & Wharton, 2007 ; Storch et al., 2007 ). Check the Rudd Center website ( www.uconnruddcenter.org ) for resources and information on weight bias in health and educational settings.

Weight discrimination is associated with stress and negative health outcomes. Sutin, Stephan, and Terracciano ( 2015 ), using data from two large U.S. national studies, found that weight discrimination was associated with increased mortality risk and that the association was stronger than that between mortality and other forms of discrimination. Vartanian and Novak ( 2011 ) found experiences with weight stigma had negative impact on body satisfaction and self-esteem, and importantly, weight stigma was related to avoidance of exercise.

Exercise and sport science students and professionals are just as likely as others to hold negative stereotypes. Chambliss, Finley, and Blair ( 2004 ) found a strong anti-fat bias among exercise science students, and Greenleaf and Weiller ( 2005 ) found that physical education teachers held anti-fat bias and believed obese people were responsible for their obesity. O’Brien, Hunter, and Banks ( 2007 ) found that physical education students had greater anti-fat bias than students in other health areas, and also had higher bias at year 3 than at year 1; this finding suggests that their bias was not countered in their pre-professional programs. Robertson and Vohora ( 2008 ) found a strong anti-fat bias among fitness professionals and regular exercisers in England. Donaghue and Allen ( 2016 ) found that personal trainers recognized that their clients had unrealistic weight goals but still focused on diet and exercise to reach goals.

Weight Stigma and Health Promotion

Anti-fat bias and weight discrimination among professionals has important implications for physical activity and health promotion programs. Thomas, Lewis, Hyde, Castle, and Komesaroff ( 2010 ) conducted in-depth interviews with 142 obese adults in Australia about interventions for obesity. Participants supported interventions that were nonjudgmental and empowering, whereas interventions that were stigmatizing or blamed and shamed individuals for being overweight were not viewed as effective. They called for interventions that supported and empowered individuals to improve their lifestyle. Hoyt, Burnette, and Auster-Gussman ( 2014 ) reported that the “obesity as disease” message may help people feel more positive about their bodies, but they are less likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors. More positive approaches that take the emphasis off weight and highlight health gains are more promising.

Cultural Competence

Cultural competence, which refers to the ability to work effectively with people who are of a different culture, takes cultural diversity directly into professional practice. Culturally competent professionals act to empower participants, challenge restrictions, and advocate for social justice.

Cultural Sport and Exercise Psychology

A few dedicated scholars have called for a cultural sport psychology in line with our guiding framework (e.g., Fisher, Butryn, & Roper, 2003 ; Ryba & Wright, 2005 ). Schinke and Hanrahan’s ( 2009 ) Cultural Sport Psychology , and Ryba, Schinke, and Tenenbaum’s ( 2010 ) The Cultural Turn in Sport Psychology , brought together much of the initial scholarship. Special issues devoted to cultural sport psychology were published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (Ryba & Schinke, 2009 ) and the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology special issue (Schinke & Moore, 2011 ). These works provide a base and call for cultural competence and social justice.

Cultural Competence for Professionals

Cultural competence is a required professional competency in psychology and many health professions, and is essential for anyone working with others, including sport, exercise, and performance psychology professionals. Cultural competence includes understanding and action, at both the individual and organizational level.

Most psychology resources follow Sue’s ( 2006 ) model of cultural competence with three key components: awareness of one’s own cultural values and biases, understanding of other worldviews, and development of culturally appropriate skills . In line with Sue’s model, the American Psychological Association (APA) developed the APA ( 2003 ) multicultural guidelines that call for psychologists to develop awareness of their own cultural attitudes and beliefs, understanding of other cultural perspectives, and culturally relevant skills. Furthermore, the guidelines call for action at the organizational level for social justice.

The ISSP developed a position stand (Ryba, Stambulova, Si, & Schinke, 2013 ) that describes three major areas of cultural competence: cultural awareness and reflexivity , culturally competent communication , and culturally competent interventions . Awareness and reflectivity refers to recognition of between- and within-culture variations as well as reflection on both the client and one’s own cultural background. Culturally competent communication involves meaningful dialogue and shared language. Culturally competent interventions recognize culture while avoiding stereotyping, take an idiosyncratic approach, and stand for social justice.

Cultural Competence and Inclusive Excellence

Cultural competence extends beyond individual competencies to all levels, including instruction, program development, hiring practices, and organizational policies and procedures. The APA multicultural guidelines call for professionals to recognize and value cultural diversity, continually seek to develop their multicultural knowledge and skills, translate those understandings into practice, and extend their efforts to advocacy by promoting organizational change and social justice. Cultural competence at the individual level is a professional responsibility. Inclusive excellence moves cultural competence to the institutional level. That is, we work for changes in organizations and policies that make our programs accessible and welcoming for diverse people. Taking inclusive excellence into sport, exercise, and performance psychology calls for recognizing and valuing diversity and social justice as goals that will enhance our programs and institutions, as well as bring the benefits of physical activity to participants. Therefore, we work not only to develop our individual cultural competencies, but also to effect change at the institutional level to ensure that our programs are inclusive and excellent.

Gender and culture are highly visible and influential in sport, exercise, and performance settings. Gender, race, ethnicity, social class, and physical characteristics often limit opportunities, sometimes through segregation and discrimination, but often through perceptions and stereotype influence. Sport, exercise, and performance psychology research confirms the influence of culture and offers explanations, but sport, exercise and performance psychology has made little progress in promoting cultural competence and social justice.

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Kinesiology, Physical Activity, Physical Education, and Sports through an Equity/Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lens: A Scoping Review

Khushi arora.

1 Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N1N4, Canada; [email protected]

Gregor Wolbring

2 Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N4N1, Canada

Associated Data

Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

Background: Equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion are terms covered in the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity, including in conjunction with marginalized groups. Universities in many countries use various EDI policy frameworks and work under the EDI headers “equality, diversity and inclusion”, “equity, diversity and inclusion”, “diversity, equity and inclusion”, and similar phrases (all referred to as EDI) to rectify problems students, non-academic staff, and academic staff from marginalized groups, such as women, Indigenous peoples, visible/racialized minorities, disabled people, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) experience. Which EDI data, if any, are generated influences EDI efforts in universities (research, education, and general workplace climate) of all programs. Method: Our study used a scoping review approach and employed SCOPUS and the 70 databases of EBSCO-Host, which includes SportDiscus, as sources aimed to analyze the extent (and how) the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages with EDI. Results: We found only 18 relevant sources and a low to no coverage of marginalized groups linked to EDI, namely racialized minorities (12), women (6), LGBTQ2S+ (5), disabled people (2), and Indigenous peoples (0). Conclusions: Our findings suggest a gap in the academic inquiry and huge opportunities.

1. Introduction

Many different EDI-related phrases, such as “equity, diversity and inclusion”, “diversity, equity and inclusion”, and others [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], and EDI frameworks, such as Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) [ 23 ], Australia (Science in Australia Gender Equity, SAGE-Athena SWAN) [ 24 ], the USA (See change with STEMM Equity Achievement, SEA-Change [ 25 ] and NSF ADVANCE [ 26 ]), and Canada (DIMENSIONS: Equity, diversity, and inclusion) [ 27 ]) are used to engage with equity/equality, diversity, and inclusion problems students, academic staff, and non-academic staff of marginalized group, such as women, Indigenous peoples, visible/racialized minorities, disabled people, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+), experiences in higher education, including in programs focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity. EDI phrases are also employed by groups focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity outside universities settings [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. What EDI data, if any, is generated within the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity can influence the implementation and direction of EDI focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity in universities (research, education, and general workplace climate) and outside. Therefore, we used a scoping review approach to analyze to what extent (and how) the academic literature that focuses on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages with EDI. Our two main research questions were: (1) which EDI frameworks and phrases are present in the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages? (2) What themes, and which EDI marginalized groups, are present in the EDI coverage in the sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity focused academic literature? We discuss our findings through the lens of sports-, kinesiology-, physical education-, and physical activity-focused academic literature mentioning individual EDI terms. We also use literature around EDI policy frameworks and concept of ableism as lenses.

1.1. The Topic of Equity/Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)

Many different EDI-related phrases have been generated in recent years, such as equity, diversity, and inclusion [ 1 ]; equality, diversity, and inclusion [ 1 ]; diversity, equity, and inclusion [ 1 ]; belonging, dignity, and justice [ 2 , 3 ]; diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]; employment equity [ 7 ]; equity, diversity, dignity, and inclusion [ 8 ]; equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]; justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]; inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility [ 9 , 11 ]; inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]; and equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization [ 22 ]. Furthermore, many EDI frameworks have been employed with the first being the 2005 Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s Academic Network) [ 23 ] and others that followed, such as Australia (Science in Australia Gender Equity, SAGE-Athena SWAN) [ 24 ], the USA (See change with STEMM Equity Achievement, SEA-Change [ 25 ] and NSF ADVANCE [ 26 ]), and Canada (DIMENSIONS: Equity, diversity and inclusion) [ 27 ].

Work performed under these EDI frameworks and EDI phrases are envisioned to lead to systemic positive change for students, academic staff, and non-academic staff in universities as a workplace, in general, but also in the research and education reality [ 25 ]. Although the EDI focus is often on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) [ 25 , 26 ] and EDI started with a focus on gender equality [ 23 , 24 , 26 ], the EDI focus, by now, encompasses all areas of universities and various marginalized groups, such as women, Indigenous peoples, visible/racialized minorities, disabled people, and LGBTQ2S+ [ 27 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. To quote from the Canadian EDI framework:

“Dimensions: equity, diversity and inclusion Canada invites you to take part in a post-secondary transformation to increase equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and help drive deeper cultural change within the research ecosystem” [ 35 ]. “The Dimensions program addresses obstacles faced by, but not limited to, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities/racialized groups, and members of LGBTQ2+ communities” [ 35 ].

However, many problems have been identified, in relation to EDI implementations [ 1 ].

1.2. The Individual Concepts of Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Sport

Studies focusing on sports engage with equity and equality, in the context of the EDI groups of gender [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], race [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ], and LGBTQ2S+ [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], including through an intersectionality lens [ 52 ] of these three identities [ 53 ]. Coverage exists for the term’s diversity and inclusion [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ] and Indigenous peoples [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Studies noted that women especially in third world countries continue to experience a lack of equity in sport [ 69 ], that women’s sports are underrepresented in media coverage and that women are underrepresented in sports careers such as sports journalism, sports media, and sport leadership positions [ 70 , 71 , 72 ]. The literature covers race equity in sports, especially of athletes of color, in many ways, such as highlighting the excessive number of penalties [ 47 ] or pressuring of black students into athletics [ 43 ]. It is argued that a lack of diversity in sports is concerning because sport facilitates group cohesion; therefore, underrepresenting certain groups within sports can lead to further segregation of those groups [ 73 ]. There is an emphasis on the importance of ethnic diversity within sports, specifically youth sports, as a team sport provides an environment for children to come together from all different backgrounds and engage towards a common goal [ 74 ]. These experiences are beneficial, as they play a role in the identity formation of children as they age [ 75 ]. Discussions of inclusion in sports usually refers to social inclusion and emphasizes that sports are a facilitator for social inclusion and community engagement [ 76 , 77 ]. These implications are significant for groups that experience a lack of inclusion [ 78 , 79 ], whereby the lack of support initiatives for females and, specifically, initiatives for gender equity in sports must be addressed [ 80 , 81 , 82 ].

1.3. The Individual Concepts of Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Kinesiology

Studies focusing on kinesiology engage with equity and equality, in the context of the EDI groups of gender [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ], race [ 87 , 88 ], and LGBTQ2S+ [ 89 ], including through an intersectionality lens [ 90 , 91 ] of these three identities [ 92 , 93 ]. It is suggested to perform equity audits [ 94 ]. Coverage exists for the terms diversity and inclusion [ 95 ], as well as for Indigenous peoples [ 91 ]. It is emphasized that “as our nation and society becomes more racially and ethnically diverse”, this diversity also translates to the “student demographic on campus”, meaning that the student body is becoming more diverse” [ 96 ] (p. 66). Therefore, it is important that the content of kinesiology education teaches reflects that diversity and addresses all kinds of people. However, it is argued that kinesiology education is biased towards whiteness [ 88 ]. Furthermore, it is highlighted that, even though students are becoming more diverse on campus, that diversity does not necessarily reflect the students in kinesiology programs [ 97 ]. It is recommended that kinesiology programs, both graduate and undergraduate, should make an effort to recruit more diverse students [ 97 ]. This need for diversity is addressed through the need for more ethnically diverse students, as well as more women in the faculty [ 98 ]. It is argued that if kinesiology programs include content on reducing inequalities and social justice, that will then help to “address societal problems within our communities” [ 92 ] (p. 271).

1.4. The Individual Concepts of Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Physical Education

Studies focusing on physical education engage with equity and equality, in the context of the EDI groups of gender [ 99 , 100 ], race [ 101 ], and LGBTQ2S+ [ 89 , 102 , 103 ], including through an intersectionality lens [ 104 , 105 ] of these three identities [ 106 ]. The same is true for the terms diversity and inclusion [ 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 ], as well as for Indigenous peoples [ 115 , 116 , 117 ]. It is argued that a focus on equity is needed in physical education curricula [ 118 ], because the educators learn about physical education through their university experiences [ 118 ]. It is argued that, in order to increase inclusivity within the classroom, the importance of that must be emphasized in training programs that physical education teachers must complete before they are eligible to work [ 119 ], and teachers have to be confident in generating inclusion in the classroom once they graduate [ 119 ], a confidence they are seen to lack [ 120 ]. It is also argued that physical education training programs must address issues regarding diversity and diversity attitudes [ 121 ].

1.5. The Individual Concepts of Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Physical Activity

Studies focusing on physical activity discuss equity and equality, in the context of the EDI groups of gender [ 42 ], race [ 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 ], and LGBTQ2S+ [ 126 ], including through an intersectionality lens [ 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 ] of these three identities [ 53 ]. The same is true for the terms diversity and inclusion [ 126 ], as well as for Indigenous peoples [ 62 ]. Regular physical activity is an important aspect in healthy living [ 131 ]; however, many “cities lack built environments that support physical activity” [ 132 ] (p. 1475). This is problematic because physical activity is a key indicator of health [ 132 ] and health equity [ 133 ]. Furthermore, socio-demographics influence whether one engages in physical activity [ 133 ]. For example, girls follow physical activity guidelines less than boys [ 133 , 134 ], and factors such as “race/ethnicity, household income, maternal education level, and perceived social status” [ 133 ] (p. 514) impact ones engagement in physical activities. With that, it is argued that a gender-neutral narrative, when addressing physical activity, is needed, and barriers originating with the social environment of a person have to be tackled [ 135 ].

1.6. The Individual Concepts of Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Sports, Kinesiology, Physical Education, and Physical Activity: The Case of Disabled People

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities flags access to recreation, leisure, and sport in their daily life, including schools [ 136 ], as a problem disabled people experience. Equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion, as individual terms, are discussed extensively, in the context of disabled people, within the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical activity, and physical education [ 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 ]. Debates are ongoing as to the meaning of diversity [ 113 ], different approaches to diversity in physical education curricula [ 113 ], and benefits for disabled students being part of physical education classes [ 143 ]. National curricula for physical education are seen “as an important vehicle for social policy targeting the inclusion of disabled young people” [ 144 ] (p. 291); however, at the same time, many problems are reported to still exist in 2021 [ 144 ]. These problems are detrimental to disabled students [ 144 ], and it is noted that these problems generated barriers for physical education to benefit from the increased motivation of disabled pupils to partake in sports after the London 2012 Paralympics [ 144 ]. Many problems have been linked to how the physical education faculty engages with disabled people: faculty awareness of disability mandates, limited faculty training, lack of knowledge of federal disability mandates, negative reactions to disability disclosure, failure to accommodate, train and support faculty on academic adjustments, assistive technology, and teaching strategies, as well as the failure to ensure faculty comply with reasonable accommodations [ 145 ]. Problems have been not only reported in the context of physical education. It is argued that “ongoing advocacy, support, networking in raising awareness and promoting inclusion and equality in both mainstream and deaf/disability organizations are necessary to empower and increase participation and leadership roles for deaf/hard of hearing girls and women in sport” [ 146 ] (p. 71), and there is a need to increase formal coach education of parasport coaches [ 147 ]. According to the World Health Organization, “much work is needed to achieve equity in physical activity opportunities, access, and participation for people living with disability” [ 148 ] (p. 91). It is also argued that: there are many barriers to the inclusion of disabled people in kinesiology [ 149 ], non-disabled students have to be more exposed to disabled people and their social realities in kinesiology teaching [ 150 ], diversity and inclusion have to be clearly defined and cared for in kinesiology on all levels from students to faculty [ 151 ], more has to be done to generate more research that “counters deficit thinking from a social justice perspective” [ 152 ] (p. 225), and kinesiology researchers should “challenge dominant (majoritarian) discourses through critical interrogation of oppression (e.g., people of color, women, and individuals with disabilities) and privileges” [ 152 ] (p. 225).

The Issue of Ableism

Disabled activists and academics coined the term ableism in the United States and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s to flag the cultural reality of ability-based expectations, judgments, norms, and conflicts. Many worked, and work is ongoing on the disabling and enabling use of ability expectations and ableism [ 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168 , 169 , 170 , 171 , 172 , 173 , 174 , 175 , 176 ], covering the relationship between ‘non-disabled people’ and ‘disabled people’, as well as humans–humans relationships, in general, humans-post/transhumans, humans-cyborg humans, humans-non sentient machines, humans-animals, and humans-nature relationships, linking ableism to many social theories and topics. Some ability concepts are: ability security (one is able to live a decent life with whatever set of abilities one has), ability identity security (to be able to be at ease with ones abilities), and ability inequity, an unjust or unfair (a) “distribution of access to and protection from abilities generated through human interventions” or (b) “judgment of abilities intrinsic to biological structures such as the human body” [ 156 , 177 ]. Ableism not only intersects with other forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, ageism, and classism, but abilities are often used to justify such negative isms [ 153 , 154 , 168 , 178 , 179 , 180 , 181 , 182 ].

Ableism is also used to call out ability-based discriminations against disabled people within the kinesiology, sport, physical education, and physical education literature [ 91 , 149 , 151 , 183 , 184 , 185 , 186 , 187 , 188 , 189 , 190 , 191 , 192 , 193 , 194 ], including the intersectionality of ableism with other isms and prejudices [ 186 ]. As to kinesiology, one study found an able-bodied curriculum encouraging ableist attitudes among kinesiology students and an invisibility of disabled people [ 184 ]. Another study covering kinesiology education found prejudice, discrimination, microaggression, and deficit language against people with disabilities and structural ableism [ 185 ]. One article noted that many students might question the isms related to one group, such as gender, but do not, for example, question other isms they might internalize, such as racism or ableism [ 187 ].

As to physical education, instructional ableism and microaggressions is flagged as a problem [ 191 ], and it is argued that physical education should enable critical engagement with ableism, which would entail a “different ability curriculum, which destabilises notions of normativity and challenges the status quo regarding ability” [ 194 ] (p. 518) and understanding that “the diversity of humanity through a ‘differently-abled’ framework as well as to critique the construction of disability from a deficit perspective” [ 193 ] (p. 1). Ableism is flagged as a useful analytical perspective in sports pedagogy to reflect on its discriminatory and exclusionary potential [ 149 ]. It is argued that there are competing ability-related narratives, such as the “global trend for (normalized) physical self-optimization on the one hand, and the struggle to achieve acceptance of (bodily) diversity triggered by the societal claims for inclusion on the other hand” [ 149 ] (p. 152). It is argued that ableism, as a lens, highlights that “stigmatisation, exclusion and disability cannot be ascribed to the individual; these are instead first actively generated by the discursive body image” [ 149 ] (p. 158) and reflects that “traditionally, imperfection has had no place in the pedagogy of PE” [ 149 ] (p. 155), as well as that PE teachers “instrumentalize the body” [ 149 ] (p. 162) and “tend to focus on deficits when dealing with persons whose bodies deviate from the norm” [ 149 ] (p. 162), which is seen as “an obstacle for full and equal participation for all young people in PE at school” [ 149 ] (p. 162).

Regarding sports, it is argued that ableism impacts social practice within sports, and ableism in sports has to be addressed [ 188 , 195 ]. It is argued that experiences and discourses around sports mostly internalize and take ableism-based identities as a given [ 183 , 188 , 190 ], and ableism is one reason for why disability sports have largely been ignored, in the context of diversity management in sports [ 196 ]. It is argued that it is critical to understand “ableism and how ableistic ideology informs sporting theory, sport science and sport management” [ 197 ] (p. 5).

Many studies cover individual EDI terms that make up the various EDI phrases in the context of sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity. However, to our knowledge, no study has, so far, analyzed whether the academic literature also engages with the existing EDI phrases and frameworks. That is important to know because EDI phrases and frameworks are linked to specific policy endeavors in the workplace, such as universities. How these policies are implemented impacts the research and education activities of and day-to-day operations in the fields of sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity. Our study aims to fill the gap and investigate to what extent (and how) the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages with existing EDI phrases and frameworks. Given that specific marginalized groups are the focus of the activities performed under the EDI phrases and frameworks, our study also investigated which marginalized groups are mentioned.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. research design.

Scoping studies are useful in identifying the research that exists on a subject [ 198 , 199 ]. Our scoping study focused on the research that engages with EDI, in the context of sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity. Our study was guided by the very policy premises of EDI [ 1 ].

Our study employed a modified version of a scoping review outlined by Arksey and O’Malley [ 200 ], as performed in another study [ 201 ]. Our research questions were: (1) Which EDI frameworks and phrases are present in the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages? (2) What themes and which EDI marginalized groups are present in the EDI coverage in the sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity focused academic literature?

2.2. Data Sources and Data Collection

We searched, on 22–26 May 2021 (14 December 2021, for strategy 2), the 70 databases accessible through EBSCO-Host, which includes CINAHL, SportDiscus, and Scopus (which incorporates the full Medline database collection) for English language data with no time restrictions, accessing journals that cover relevant content to our research questions. We searched for scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles in EBSCO-Host, and we searched for reviews, peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and editorials in Scopus. We performed the following search strategies ( Table 1 ).

Search strategies.

2.3. Data Analysis

To answer the research questions, we first obtained hit counts for our search term combinations ( Table 1 ), employing a descriptive quantitative analysis approach [ 202 , 203 ]. We obtained the abstracts, as part of downloading the citations obtained through Scopus and EBSCO-Host, using the Endnote 9 software. We removed duplicates within the Endnote 9 software and exported the remaining abstracts, as a Word file, from the Endnote 9 software. We then uploaded the Word file with the abstracts into the qualitative analysis software ATLAS.Ti 9™ for directed qualitative content analysis [ 202 , 203 , 204 , 205 ] of the data focusing on the research questions, meaning the abstracts had to cover EDI as a policy framework and not just engage with individual EDI terms. Both authors coded the abstracts to see which fit the inclusion criterium, and the full text articles of these abstracts were downloaded and uploaded into ATLAS.Ti 9™. We used a directed content analysis to add knowledge about the phenomenon of EDI and areas of kinesiology, physical education, physical activity, and sports that benefit from further description [ 202 ]. As to the coding procedure, beyond having judged the relevance of the abstracts for downloading the full texts, we followed a procedure we used before [ 201 ], as outlined by others [ 202 , 205 , 206 ].

2.4. Trustworthiness Measure

As to trustworthiness measures [ 207 , 208 , 209 ], the few differences in the analysis of the qualitative data were discussed and resolved between the authors (peer debriefing) [ 209 ]. Confirmability was achieved by using the audit trail, employing the memo and coding functions within ATLAS.Ti 9™ software. As for transferability, we provided all the information needed, so that others can decide whether to apply our study design to other sources or change design aspects, such as different keywords.

The search strategies generated 26 abstracts, of which 18 were deemed to have relevant content. The full texts of the 18 relevant abstracts were downloaded and thematically analyzed ( Figure 1 ).

Flow chart of the selection of academic full texts for qualitative analysis.

We present the themes in the downloaded full text articles in three sections:

• (a) The first one being academic/educational setting, but not university, which was classified as anything that is related to academics (but not specifically to a university) setting; for example, research conferences that are open to all fields of studies and careers, K to 12 education, and other academic organizations.
• (b) Non-academic settings, which primarily looked at sport facilities and organizations, recreational facilities and organizations, and general physical activity.
• (c) University setting, consisting of discussions around different university institutions and, specifically, different areas of the faculty of kinesiology.

We separated the findings further by the following four areas: physical education, sport, physical activity, and kinesiology.

Furthermore, we separate the findings into the four common themes we found: (a) EDI recommendation/EDI needs, (b) EDI curriculum and teacher/educator/mentor role in EDI, (c) EDI literacy/EDI narrative, and, lastly, (d) EDI study results.

Finally, we separated the results according to which EDI group they looked at. If a source did not specifically discuss equity deserving groups, it was labelled as “no group”.

In each of the results sections, we first provide the frequency counts for the presence of themes we found. We only list where there was at least one hit for the theme. The themes that had 0 results are not listed in the tables.

3.1. Academic/Educational Setting

Within the academic/educational setting theme, the following themes returned no results and, as such, are neither listed in Table 2 and Table 3 nor reflected in the sub-headers:

• - 0 results on physical education, in terms of EDI study results;
• - 0 results on sport, in terms of EDI curriculum and educators and mentor’s role in EDI;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI recommendations/EDI needs;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI curriculum and educators and mentor’s role in EDI;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI literacy/EDI narrative;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI study result;
• - 0 results on kinesiology, in terms of ALL the EDI-related themes.

Frequency of themes related to EDI and Physical education in an academic/educational setting.

Frequency of themes related to EDI and sports in an academic/educational setting.

3.1.1. Academic Setting and Physical Education

Edi recommendation/edi needs.

There were twelve findings, in a total of five sources, that discussed EDI recommendations/EDI needs, in the context of physical education in an academic setting. Out of the twelve findings, one of them discussed persons with disabilities, three of them discussed ethnic groups, and eight of them did not cover any specific EDI group.

The EDI recommendation related to persons with disability(s) in physical education settings was that regular contact with non-disabled children in physical education classes aids in the inclusion of those with disabilities in society [ 210 ]. The EDI recommendation related to ethnic groups discussed that, if students limit their interactions with the same or similar cultural backgrounds in the physical education class, it is then reflected in the student’s behavior and interactions in society [ 210 ]. This statement essentially emphasizes that it is important that students do not limit their interactions with other students of different cultural backgrounds and highlights that, if this type of behavior is happening within the classroom, it is very likely that it will also occur outside of the classroom [ 210 ]. Another recommendation that looked at including ethnic groups was that, in order to make education more accessible, we should look at multilingual or cultural resources that can engage more communities and, as a result, have more participants engaging in learning [ 211 ]. In addition, another recommendation for the inclusion of ethnic groups discussed the importance of culturally sensitive and inclusive pedagogy in the classroom [ 210 ]. Other recommendations that discussed physical education in an academic setting did not address a specific group covered by the EDI framework but discussed other EDI recommendations and the need for EDI in these settings. Firstly, the need for EDI was addressed through the importance of inclusive education. Specifically, it is noted that inclusive education means that all learners, no matter who, should have access to mainstream education, and inclusive education should benefit all learners [ 211 ]. A recommendation for inclusive learning stated that there are many resources available online for learning that can aid education to be more inclusive [ 211 ]. Recommendations for EDI and the need for EDI was also looked at, specifically in the physical education classroom and curriculum. For example, a recommendation emphasized the importance of establishing an inclusive classroom environment, where all students feel like they are included and belong in the classroom [ 210 ]. Another major recommendation was the need for educational curricula to cover EDI topics, so students could be educated on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion [ 212 ]. To keep those creating curricula accountable, a recommendation was put forward that, if curricula fail to implement EDI frameworks, there should be consequences for such actions [ 213 ]. The need for EDI was also addressed outside of the classroom, specifically in certain research journals [ 214 ]. This study looked at one journal, i.e., The Recreational Sports Journal , and found that EDI was not discussed in a meaningful way during the time period of their study; it is very important to address this void and publish more papers that cover EDI topics [ 214 ]. It was recommended in this paper that the editor-in-chief and editorial board of the journal should generate a call for papers that are focused on EDI issues, as well as designate research funding to the topic of EDI [ 214 ].

EDI Curriculum and Teacher/Educators/Mentors Role in EDI

There were nine findings, in a total of three sources, that discussed EDI curricula and the teachers/educator/mentor role in EDI, in the context of physical education in an academic setting. Out of the nine findings, one of them discussed ethnic groups and the other eight covered no specific EDI group. In terms of ethnic groups, it was discussed that taking the initiative to build EDI curricula brings the opportunity to include more culturally responsive and cultural enrichment pedagogy [ 211 ]. The following findings did not discuss a specific EDI group but did cover the idea of an EDI curriculum and educators and mentors role in EDI. It was discussed that educators and mentors must make sure that everyone feels welcome, supported, and valued in their space, so students can achieve their goals and grow their talents [ 211 ]. Understanding the value that physical education has, in terms of building relationships across different groups of people, was addressed [ 210 ]. The idea that educators must reflect on their teaching styles and activities within the physical education classroom was highlighted [ 215 ]; in order to do so, it was said that this requires a deep understanding of the barriers and societal issues that minority groups face [ 210 ]. There was further emphasis on the fact that it is important that educators also teach for social cohesion and, when doing so, they must be careful to be aware of dominant versus minority groups and teach accordingly [ 210 ]. Overall, the idea that teachers must be aware of the impact that implementing EDI-based curricula can have for the children outside of the classroom, as well as the role they play in achieving positive outcomes, has been noted as crucial.

3.1.2. Academic Setting and Sports

There were three findings, out of a total of one source, that discussed EDI recommendation/EDI needs, in the context of sports in an academic setting. Out of those three findings, none of them covered a specific EDI group. The source was a statement that was put out by the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion [ 216 ]. In the statement, they addressed the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in research and provided some future recommendations and goals for their own journal [ 216 ]. They started off by openly embracing the concept of EDI and said that they want to maintain a culture that embraces EDI within their journal [ 216 ]. They further went on to say that they want to work actively to promote change through purposeful EDI initiatives, as well as publish more diverse research that can be translatable to a more patient diverse population [ 216 ].

EDI Literacy/EDI Narrative

The following source discusses reflections that occurred at EDI conferences [ 217 ]. This source did not specifically cover physical education, physical activity, sports, or kinesiology, but they did take the reflections mentioned in the conferences and mentioned them in the context of sports; therefore, we categorized these findings in this section. There are four findings in the one source that discussed EDI literacy and narratives in an academic setting, specifically research conferences. None of these findings discussed a specific EDI group. This source first started off by highlighting that one of the barriers to EDI literacy is connected to the fact that the EDI research that is broadcasted and discussed during conferences is not easily accessible for the vast majority of people who do not get invited to conferences; therefore, it is important that we have literature for people to learn about EDI through credible sources [ 217 ]. There was further discussion on the idea that statistics cannot represent the actual stories that are behind individual answers, and its stories can show us the intersectionality in a clear way [ 217 ]. In addition, it was said, in relation to EDI literacy, that positive stories can often deflect from the negative stories that make people uncomfortable; therefore, this can affect the EDI narrative [ 217 ]. With that in mind, it was said that it is important that we provide appreciative inquiry and not critical inquiry when we are analyzing negative stories relating to EDI [ 217 ].

EDI Study Result

There were seven findings, out of a total of two sources, that discussed EDI study results, in the context of sports in an academic setting. One of the sources covered all EDI groups, whereas the other source did not cover any EDI groups. The first source was a content analysis of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the Recreational Sports Journal [ 214 ], performed for the years of 2005 to 2019. The study results revealed that reporting participants gender was the only variable that showed improvement from the pre-to-post-EDI commission era [ 214 ]. In this content analysis, it was also highlighted that the most to least discussed issues in EDI research was in order from gender, race and ethnicity, social class, nationality issue, sexual orientation issue, disability issue, and non-traditional student issues [ 214 ]. It is important to take note that, out of the EDI groups we are looking at, the content analysis clearly highlighted that disability issues were the least discussed in EDI research. It was highlighted in another statement that gender was the most addressed cultural diversity issue, and there is little attention to topics, such as disability, nationality, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, or social class [ 214 ]. This content analysis also revealed that, out of the 200 Recreational Sports Journal articles that were analyzed, 18% addressed at least one equity diversity and/or inclusion issues [ 214 ]. Furthermore, it was also revealed that EDI issues were addressed in less than 20% of the articles in the journal [ 214 ]. The second source looked at the development of a model of diversity, equity, and inclusion for support volunteers [ 218 ]. In this source, it was revealed that sports volunteers experience a lack of inclusion on many levels and microaggressions [ 218 ]. It was specifically discussed that there is limited research that critically examines the experience of volunteers that belong to traditionally underrepresented populations [ 218 ].

3.2. Non-Academic Setting

Within the non-academic setting theme, the following returned no results and, as such, are neither listed in Table 4 and Table 5 nor reflected in the sub-headers:

• - 0 results on physical education, in terms of all the EDI-related themes;
• - 0 results on sports, in terms of EDI curriculum and educator/mentor’s role in EDI;
• - 0 results on sports, in terms of EDI literacy/EDI narrative;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI curriculum and educators/mentor’s role in EDI;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of EDI study results;

Frequency of themes related to EDI and physical activity in a non-academic setting.

Frequency of themes related to EDI and sports in a non-academic setting.

3.2.1. Non-Academic Setting and Physical Activity

There was one finding, through one source, that discussed EDI recommendations/EDI needs in the context of physical activity in a non-academic setting. This EDI recommendation/EDI need did not cover any specific EDI group. It was discussed that there is an “urgent need” to address EDI within intramural and recreational sports [ 214 ]. This recommendation and expression for the need of EDI also covers the topic of sports; however, we also added it in the physical activity section because intramural and recreational sports are commonly a form of leisure time physical activity and usually do not include those who play sports professionally.

3.2.2. Non-Academic Setting and Sports

There were five findings, in a total of four sources, that discussed EDI recommendations/EDI needs in the context of sport in a non-academic setting. Out of those five findings, one discussed women and ethnic groups, one discussed ethnic groups, and two discussed no EDI groups. The EDI recommendation and need to promote racial EDI within black women’s football in Brazil were highlighted [ 219 ]. This recommendation emphasized the importance of EDI, in the context of women, as well as ethnic groups. The EDI recommendation that was specific to ethnic minorities was that, without intentional recognition and efforts towards addressing racial disparities, we will not see meaningful progress, in terms of the leadership efforts, for EDI and, in some cases, could even result in more damage, if we do not address racial disparities [ 213 ]. This paper was specific to college sports and sport leadership; however, the paper applied this statement generally and, therefore, is categorized under the non-academic section. In terms of general sports in a non-academic setting, it was said that there is an urgent need to start addressing EDI-related audiences, issues, and topics within the field of intramural and recreational sports [ 214 ]. Furthermore, it was recommended that national governing bodies should consider implementing mentorship programs, take steps to limit the influence of social connections on advancement decisions, reduce barriers to participation, and provide training to reduce the presence of microaggressions and unconscious bias within sport [ 218 ]. Lastly, the need for EDI was highlighted by saying that an EDI framework within sport organizations is necessary for success of that sport organization [ 218 ].

There were eight findings, out of a total of three sources, that presented EDI study results in the context of support in a non-academic setting. Out of the eight findings, four discussed LGBTQIA+ topics, two discussed women, one discussed ethnic groups, and one discussed both women and ethnic groups. One EDI study result discussing LGBTQIA+ was that athletes have a fear of disclosing their sexuality or sexual orientation, in fear of discrimination from the sports industry [ 220 ]. Because of this, players will not disclose their non-heterosexual orientation, in order to avoid homophobic discrimination from their fans, agents, the media, and, lastly, their employers [ 220 ]. Furthermore, there was discussion on the question as to whether the equity law, as well as the law on positive action, are enough to promote the equality of treatment and opportunity, when it comes to the employment of LGBTQIA+ elite sport professionals, specifically football players [ 220 ]. Lastly, it was said that the acknowledgement of the presence and prevalence of homophobia in football is a more recent phenomenon [ 220 ]. An EDI study result highlighted that female representation and recognition in sports have yet to catch up to that of their male counterparts [ 221 ]. Furthermore, there is limited coverage that is specific to women’s sports; when women are presented as a topic, they are faced with arbitrary issues, such as femininity and sexuality [ 221 ]. Specific to ethnic groups, a EDI study result highlighted that, even though many professional athletes are people of color, those who want to be employed as coaches and managers are still facing discrimination within sport [ 220 ]. One of the EDI study results that covered both ethnic groups and women was that there is white male advantage in sports [ 217 ].

3.3. University Setting

Within the university setting theme, the following returned no results and, as such, are neither listed in Table 6 and Table 7 nor reflected in the sub-headers:

• - 0 results on physical education, in terms of ALL the EDI-related themes;
• - 0 results on sports, in terms of EDI study result;
• - 0 results on physical activity, in terms of ALL the EDI-related themes;
• - 0 results on kinesiology, in terms of EDI curriculum and Educators/mentors role;
• - 0 results on kinesiology, in terms of EDI/EDI narrative.

Frequency of themes related to EDI and sports in a university setting.

Frequency of themes related to EDI and kinesiology in a university setting.

3.3.1. University Setting and Sports

There were four findings, in a total of two sources, that discussed EDI recommendation/EDI needs in the context of sport in a university setting. Out of those four findings, none of them discussed a specific EDI group. One of the findings presented the recommendation that, for the future of college recreational sports programs, those programs have a responsibility to address the needs of the changing demographic interests, as well as the diverse students on campus [ 214 ]. This source also addressed that, as there is growing diversity on college campuses, the future of college campuses must prioritize EDI [ 214 ]. Furthermore, it was recommended that the National Collegiate Athletic Association should have penalties in place for institutions that fail to implement EDI initiatives or for those that do not have any EDI initiatives in place [ 222 ]. In addition, recommendations around EDI frameworks and leadership strategies were also presented specifically by addressing that culturally responsive leadership strategies are important for achieving EDI in college sports [ 222 ].

3.3.2. University Settings and Kinesiology

The recommendation in this one source addressed that the kinesiology program design can use student narratives and experiences to make the shift from neutral documents and pedagogy to ones that expose and work towards dismantling Eurocentricity within the field of study [ 87 ].

4. Discussion

The objective of this study was to ascertain to what extent (and how) the academic literature focusing on sports, kinesiology, physical education, and physical activity engages with the various EDI phrases and frameworks, as well as which of the marginalized groups covered under EDI are mentioned in the literature covered.

We found only 18 relevant hits with all our search strategies, whereby the EDI frameworks were not at all found. Only ‘sport*’ generated any hits related to EDI phrases; the other three fields did not. The majority of our findings were based on the presence of all the individual EDI terms, but not as phrases; within these sources, the term “sport*” was the most linked to EDI, with much less physical activity or physical education and even less kinesiology. On top, we found a very low to no coverage of marginalized groups normally linked to EDI, namely racialized minorities (12), women (6), LGBTQ2S+ (5), disabled people (2), and Indigenous peoples (0), within the already low coverage of EDI.

Altogether, our findings suggest a huge gap in the academic inquiry and huge opportunities for research on EDI within sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology by themselves, but also in collaborations with many other fields and groups, such as disability studies and other identity group studies, social justice studies, education, media studies, global south focused studies, sustainability studies, socially disadvantaged groups, practitioners, and policy makers. Given that ableism is employed in the academic literature covering sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, we especially see opportunities for sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology academic efforts to use the ableism lens to enrich the EDI discourses. For the remainder of the section, we discuss the problems of our findings, using as lenses: (a) the academic literature related to physical education, sport, physical activity, and kinesiology, individually covering the terms equity, equality, inclusion, and diversity; (b) the premise of the EDI frameworks and phrases, in general, as well as in the context of disabled people; and (c) ableism experienced by disabled people, but also beyond.

4.1. The EDI Policy Frameworks

Efforts performed under the EDI frameworks and EDI policy terms are envisioned to lead to systemic positive change for students, academic staff, and non-academic staff in universities, as a workplace, in general, but also in the research and education reality in universities [ 1 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. To quote from the Canadian EDI framework DIMENSIONS: Equity, diversity, and inclusion: “Canada invites you to take part in a post-secondary transformation to increase equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and help drive deeper cultural change within the research ecosystem” [ 35 ] and “The Dimensions program addresses obstacles faced by, but not limited to, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities/racialized groups, and members of LGBTQ2+ communities” [ 35 ].

Given this sweeping mandate for positive systemic and cultural changes EDI actions are to engender, much more should have been found in our searches that link sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology to EDI policy frameworks and phrases with particular emphasis on the EDI targeted groups. However, our findings are not surprising, as the EDI frameworks and phrases are rarely visible in other contexts either, such as disabled people, in general [ 1 ]. However, given the very focus of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, namely their narratives around the ability of the body and social role of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, we suggest they are uniquely situated to contribute and critically analyze EDI discourses, including the ability premises of EDI discourses. Furthermore, disabled students, graduate and undergraduate, are uniquely situated to contribute to this analysis, but there are problems to achieve that goal for disabled students on the undergraduate and graduate levels [ 1 , 223 , 224 ].

4.2. Individual EDI Terms in Sport, Physical Education, Physical Activity, and Kinesiology

In sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, the individual terms of equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion are discussed, in the context of the EDI groups of gender, race, LGBTQ2S+ [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ], and Indigenous people [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 115 , 116 , 117 ], including using an intersectionality lens [ 52 , 53 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 ]. Individual EDI terms are also discussed in sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, in the context of disabled people [ 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 149 ], whereby the very meaning of the individual terms, such as diversity and inclusion, are debated [ 113 , 151 ]. All these documents suggest that there could, and should, have been much more coverage of the EDI phrases and frameworks than we found. Our findings are another example of a disconnect between policy terms, frameworks, and existing academic literature. Our findings also suggests that the very conceptual thinking around EDI and sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology might be underdeveloped. Using individual terms, such as equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion, is much easier than using a framework that uses them together (equity, diversity, and inclusion; equality, diversity, and inclusion). Indeed, discussions are ongoing how to fill the individual terms with meaning in the EDI policy frameworks, and more terms are added to these phrases, such as belonging, justice, dignity, accessibility, accountability, and decolonization [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], suggesting that the initial EDI phrases did not lead to the desired EDI changes anticipated. These ongoing discussions suggest an opening for the academic engagement with the EDI arena in the university setting by sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology. Then the problems and actions flagged as needed in the academic literature covering sport, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, as well as the individual EDI terms, are reasons, by themselves, that there could (and should) be more academic engagement of sport, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology with the EDI phrases and frameworks, in order to generate data on how to make them useful. The existing literature suggests the possibilities of interdisciplinary collaborations on EDI between sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, as well as other academic fields, where problems of marginalized groups, in the context of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, are noted, such as media studies [ 70 , 71 , 72 ], departments and programs that cover the global south [ 69 ], teacher education (including physical education teachers) [ 113 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 149 , 150 , 151 ], and fields covering health, environmental design, and urban design [ 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 ]. EDI engagement by sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology could be used to engage with many social problems in the community linked to sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, as well as problems flagged within university settings of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, such as group cohesion [ 73 , 74 ], identity formation [ 75 ], need for changing curricula [ 88 , 96 , 97 ], need for diversifying students and faculty [ 97 , 98 ], and need for questioning oppressive discourses and privileges [ 152 ].

4.3. The Issue of Ableism

Ableism is a term coined by disabled activists and academics to flag the cultural reality of ability-based expectations, judgments, norms, and conflicts [ 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168 , 169 , 170 , 171 , 172 , 173 , 174 , 175 , 176 ]. Ableism is also used as a conceptual framework, to call out ability-based discriminations against disabled people within the kinesiology, sports, physical education, and physical education literature [ 91 , 149 , 151 , 183 , 184 , 185 , 186 , 187 , 188 , 189 , 190 , 191 , 192 , 193 , 194 ]. Ableism is seen as one reason for the invisibility of disabled people and their problems in many subject topics and degrees [ 196 ], and it is argued that it is critical to understand “ableism and how ableistic ideology informs sporting theory, sport science and sport management” [ 197 ] (p. 5), and a “different ability curriculum, which destabilises notions of normativity and challenges the status quo regarding ability” is needed [ 194 ] (p. 518). As such, the problems indicated in sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, under the concept of ableism, suggest the need for critical evaluation of EDI frameworks and policies developed under EDI phrases that are applied to disabled people, which sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology are well situated to provide. However, ableism is more useful.

Ableism beyond Disabled People

The cultural reality of ableism is intersectional [ 178 , 179 , 180 , 181 ]. The intersectionality of experiencing different forms of isms, including ableism and problematic ability, linked prejudices, perceptions, microaggression, discrimination, language, and attitudes toward disabled people and others are highlighted in the education of students and curricula in sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology [ 183 , 184 , 185 , 186 , 191 , 193 ]. It is argued that experiences and discourses around sport often favor and internalize ableism [ 183 , 187 , 190 ]. However, the very cultural reality of ableism goes beyond being part of a list of isms. Ableism is used to enable other negative isms, such as sexism, racism, classism, and ageism, that have, at their core, ability judgments [ 153 , 154 , 182 ]. Masculinity and supercrip identities, mentioned in [ 183 ], are not just internalized identities similar to the ableism identity mentioned in [ 183 ]; abilities are used to justify masculinity by itself, indeed masculinity is seen as an essential ability and a lack of such is used to question certain social groups [ 182 ]. Ableism is flagged as a useful analytical perspective in sports pedagogy to reflect on its discriminatory and exclusionary potential [ 149 ]; there are there are competing ability-related narratives [ 149 ]. Ableism could be used by sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology as a conceptual framework to engage with all EDI covered groups, because all EDI groups are judged based on abilities (body-derived, culture-derived). We think sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology are uniquely positioned to engage with, and enrich, the discussions around the cultural intersectional reality of ability-based expectations, judgments, norms, and conflicts, in conjunction with EDI frameworks and policy work. Sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology can make use of many ability concepts, such as internalized ableism [ 168 ], ability privilege [ 225 ], ability security (one is able to live a decent life with whatever set of abilities one has), ability identity security (to be able to be at ease with ones abilities), and ability inequity, an unjust or unfair (a) “distribution of access to and protection from abilities generated through human interventions” or (b) “judgment of abilities intrinsic to biological structures such as the human body” [ 156 , 177 ] to enrich the EDI discussions. Sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology can enrich the ability-based EDI discussions, as well, by engaging with the area of human body ability enhancements obtained through, for example, drugs, genetic and cybernetic interventions, the linked consequences of ability creeps (expecting more and more abilities of the human body; physical, mental and cognitive), and ability obsolescence [ 226 ].

4.4. Limitations

The search was limited to two academic databases and English language literature. As such, the findings are not to be generalized to the whole academic literature, non-academic literature, or non-English literature. These findings, however, allow conclusions to be made, within the parameters of the searches.

5. Conclusions and Future Research

The low hits we obtained in our scoping review suggests a gap in academic inquiry around EDI and sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology. Many research projects could evaluate the existing EDI frameworks and EDI phrases, through the lens of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology. One could answer the following research questions: What do the EDI phrases mean for sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology? Which phrases are the most suitable for sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology? Do words have to be added to the phrases? Why has the academic literature in sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology not engaged with the phrases and frameworks yet? What are the societal consequences of sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology not generating academic data and engaging with the EDI frameworks and phrases? Answers to these questions can be obtained conceptually for sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology, with surveys and interviews covering EDI-deserving groups on the level of students, academic staff, and non-academic staff. This research can engage with workplace climate, education, and research realities. For example, in a 2019 Statistics Canada survey, it is stated that 35% of disabled university professors, instructors, teachers, or researchers “experienced unfair treatment or discrimination in the past 12 months”, and 47% saw themselves “subjected to at least one type of harassment in the past 12 months” [ 227 ]. Within this survey, the numbers for disabled university professors, instructors, teachers, or researchers are the highest of all groups listed [ 227 ]. The respective numbers for “no self-reported disability” were 15.4% and 26.0%; “female gender” were 23.0% and 34.0%; “visible minorities” were 23.0% and 28.0%; and “indigenous identity” were 30.0% and 37.0%” [ 1 ] (p. 5). Such a reality must impact the implementation of positive systemic and cultural EDI changes in universities. One could generate numbers specific for sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology activities at universities. We also suggest that sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology activities at universities are uniquely situated to perform conceptual and empirical work on linking ableism to EDI in their areas and beyond. We suggest that sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology all focus on the body, and the body is the primary source of ability judgments. These judgments are then used to enable some groups/individuals over others or disable some groups/individuals. We see sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology to be uniquely situated to engage with the linkage of body ability judgments and non-body linked abilities, such as competitiveness, productivity, or the ability to have a good life [ 228 ]. We also see that sports, physical education, physical activity, and kinesiology uniquely positioned to generate and run ability-based surveys that could enrich EDI discourses.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, G.W. and K.A.; methodology, G.W. and K.A.; formal analysis, K.A. and G.W.; investigation, K.A. and G.W.; writing—original draft preparation, K.A. and G.W.; writing—review and editing, G.W. and K.A.; supervision, G.W.; project administration, G.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

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Not applicable.

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Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Diversity in Sport Organizations

• First Online: 10 April 2021

Cite this chapter

• Christopher R. Barnhill 4 ,
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• Brent D. Oja 6  

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This chapter covers all aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion as it relates to sport organizations. There are four major aspects of diversity to consider: ethical, legal, economic, and consumer/participant. First, understanding what diversity and inclusion are provides the foundation for building a better sport organization. The research in sport management indicates diversity and inclusion can be beneficial to the organization. Practical steps and considerations for improving diversity and inclusion in sport organizations are discussed in this chapter. This includes diversity statements, recruitment strategies, hiring process issues, programming, and organizational structure.

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Barnhill, C.R., Smith, N.L., Oja, B.D. (2021). Diversity in Sport Organizations. In: Organizational Behavior in Sport Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67612-4_3

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Research Article

Participation-performance tension and gender affect recreational sports clubs’ engagement with children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Centre for Transformative Innovation, Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Education, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Current address: School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Affiliation Department of Education and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of Media, Culture & Creative Arts, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Ramón Spaaij, 
• Dean Lusher, 
• Ruth Jeanes, 
• Karen Farquharson, 
• Sean Gorman, 
• Jonathan Magee

• Published: April 17, 2019
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537
• Reader Comments

Sport participation has been shown to be associated with health and social benefits. However, there are persisting inequities and barriers to sport participation that can prevent children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities from accessing these benefits. This mixed methods study investigated how diversity is understood, experienced and managed in junior sport. The study combined in-depth interviews (n = 101), surveys (n = 450) and observations over a three-year period. The results revealed that a focus on performance and competitiveness negatively affected junior sports clubs’ commitment to diversity and inclusive participation. Gender and a range of attitudes about diversity were also strongly related. On average, we found that those who identified as men were more likely to support a pro-performance stance, be homophobic, endorse stricter gender roles, and endorse violence as a natural masculine trait. In addition, those who identified as men were less likely to hold pro-disability attitudes. These findings suggest that the participation-performance tension and gender affect to what extent, and how, sports clubs engage children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Citation: Spaaij R, Lusher D, Jeanes R, Farquharson K, Gorman S, Magee J (2019) Participation-performance tension and gender affect recreational sports clubs’ engagement with children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0214537. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537

Editor: Valerio Capraro, Middlesex University, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: November 20, 2018; Accepted: March 14, 2019; Published: April 17, 2019

Copyright: © 2019 Spaaij et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: The data collection instruments and the anonymous survey data generated during the current study are available in the Supporting Information files. However, ethical restrictions apply to the qualitative data, imposed by the Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee. The data contain potentially sensitive information that could not only identify the source (i.e., individuals who participated in the research) but also render participants vulnerable due to reported experiences or expressions of racism, sexism, ableism and other forms of discrimination. The ethics committee allows future use of the (strictly de-identified) qualitative data for unspecified secondary analyses by other researchers, but this access is subject to written approval of data requests by the ethics committee in consultation with the research team (represented by the Lead Investigator, Professor Ramón Spaaij). Qualitative data requests can be submitted to the Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee. The contact information for the ethics committee is as follows: Human Research Ethics Committee; Victoria University; PO Box 14428; Melbourne; Victoria 8001; Australia. Phone: 9919 4781 or 9919 4461. Email: [email protected] .

Funding: This study was supported by the Australian Research Council ( www.arc.gov.au ) in partnership with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), the Centre for Multicultural Youth and the Australian Football League [grant number LP130100366, awarded to RS, DL, RJ, KF and SG]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Participation in sport can have health and social benefits for both children and adults [ 1 – 3 ]. Motivations for children and young people to participate in sport centre on associated social and health outcomes [ 1 , 4 ]. On a broader level, sport participation can provide an educational context and foster social interactions that teach children social life skills, sportspersonship, teamwork, and self-efficacy [ 3 , 5 – 6 ]. Research suggests that, in certain conditions, sport has the capacity to contribute to social inclusion and, as such, it has become an important site to engage socially vulnerable young people and assist in their psychosocial development [ 7 – 8 ]. However, there are persistent inequities in sport participation [ 9 – 11 ], as well as multilevel barriers that constrain the participation of diverse population groups [ 12 – 13 ]. Historically, organized sport has been a setting where diverse young people have struggled to gain access and develop a sense of belonging, whether it be based on gender [ 14 – 17 ], race/ethnicity [ 18 – 20 ], socioeconomic status [ 11 , 21 ] or disability [ 22 – 25 ]. These social factors continue to influence disparities in sport participation today.

Providing inclusive sports activities that are safe and welcoming to diverse population groups is critical if access to the health and social benefits of recreational sport is to be broadened and democratized [ 13 , 26 ]. This study empirically investigated the policy objective of promoting inclusive sports environments for people of all backgrounds and abilities. The aim of this study was to identify how diversity is understood, experienced and managed in junior-age sport. For many children and young people, sport is an important site for socialization where they interact with people with diverse backgrounds and abilities, learn about societal norms and develop a sense of community [ 27 – 28 ].

Demographic diversity occurs when people of varied backgrounds in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, ability or other social factors are present and interact. Diversity is socially constructed: it is a result of the definitions that people in a network of social relations make. In this study, we understood and analysed diversity in relation to their sports club, as a social network or context in which definitions of diversity arose and were used. The study focused on how three forms of diversity that have historically faced discrimination and disadvantage (i.e., gender, cultural diversity, and disability) are understood, experienced and managed by junior sports participants—players, parents, volunteers, committee members and others—within the context of their club and sport. Rather than focusing solely on one type of diversity, the study thus covered a broader spectrum of (intersecting) social relations that are relevant to understanding access to sport participation and associated health and social outcomes [ 29 – 30 ].

Materials and methods

This study used a mixed methods design that involved four integrated phases conducted over a three-year period [ 31 ]:

• Phase 1: 101 in-depth interviews with junior sports participants (committee members, coaches, volunteers, parents and players)
• Phase 2: 450 surveys (pooled analysis)
• Phase 3: Social network analysis of individual clubs
• Phase 4: 200 hours of observations at a sub-sample of junior sports clubs
• Phase 5: Policy analysis of government, peak-body and club policy documents

In this article, we report exclusively on study phases 1, 2 and 4.

The findings from different research phases and methods were compared systematically [ 32 ]. The qualitative methods in phases 1 and 4 provided rich contextual understanding coupled with the broad relationships and patterns among variables uncovered through the survey in phase 2. The survey provided an account of attitudes toward diversity within the clubs, whereas phase 4 (observations) offered a sense of process by examining socialization in ways of experiencing and managing diversity as it unfolds on the ground. Fig 1 summarizes the mixed methods research design, which contained both sequential and parallel data collection and analysis strands.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.g001

Club sampling and recruitment

The research used purposive sampling to select and recruit Australian junior sports clubs for inclusion in the study. Junior sport clubs were defined as not-for-profit, voluntary based organizations that provided sports leagues and competitions to children and young people. Sports clubs are the basis of grassroots participation in organized sport in Australia. Clubs are guided by national and state sport policies as well as state and local government regulations, but have a significant degree of autonomy in their operations. Sports clubs are, in effect, responsible for the practical translation of policy ambitions. State sporting associations and organisations such as VicHealth, a quasi-governmental, statewide health promotion organisation, provide clubs with support and resources to promote inclusive sports provision at the grassroots level.

The clubs (n = 9) were selected based on the following sampling criteria:

• Each club had to organize competitions for children and young people in one or more of five mass participation sports: Australian football, soccer, netball, cricket and basketball;
• Each club had to have at least of 80 registered members (to enable social network analysis);
• Each club had to be recognized by its sports governing body as being actively engaged in diversity and inclusion initiatives, hence constituting “good practices”.

The research team developed a database of clubs that met the sampling criteria, in consultation with the partner organizations (Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Australian Football League and Centre for Multicultural Youth) and relevant sports governing bodies. The identified clubs were formally invited to participate in the research through an information package that outlined the research aims, methodology and the nature of participation. Club committees formally approved their club’s participation in the project in writing; for de-identification purposes, all clubs were assigned a pseudonym. The sample was diverse with regard to the clubs’ geographical location, types of sport, areas of diversity (gender, cultural diversity, disability) and socio-economic status. The clubs covered five mass participation sports: Australian Rules football, soccer, netball, basketball, and cricket. Seven clubs were located in urban areas; two clubs were located in regional and rural Victoria.

The geographical areas in which the clubs were located ranged from very low to very high in terms of socio-economic status on the Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) [ 34 ].

Data collection

Interviews..

Phase 1 of the study involved a total of 101 face-to-face interviews across the nine clubs. Interviews were conducted at club venues, cafés, workplaces or participants’ homes. Interviews with children and young people ranged from 10 to 20 minutes, while adult interviews ranged from 30 to 90 minutes. Ten per cent of participants were aged 10–14, 20% were aged 15–19, 10% were aged 20–24, 20% were aged 25–34, 20% were aged 35–44, and 20% were aged 45–54. Approximately 60% of interviewees identified as men and 40% as women. The interviews began with questions about respondents’ personal and sporting history, followed by questions that investigated their attitudes to, and perceptions and experiences of, diversity at their club ( S1 File ). Further questions explored any behaviors or actions respondents had taken to promote diversity at the club or within their own team as well as their perceptions and experiences of resistance to diversity at the club.

This aspect of the research was conducted as a cross-sectional questionnaire ( S2 File ) that examined individual-level predictors (e.g., gender, age) of various attitudes (e.g., pro-performance, gender equality) that participants within the clubs held, using linear regression models. The selection of the four clubs for this research phase was determined by initial findings from the interviews. Questionnaires were completed at club venues either after training or on game day.

Observations.

This phase of the research aimed to complement the interviews and survey by providing further insights into how junior sport participants are socialized into ways of managing diversity as it unfolds on the ground. Research relationships with players, parents, coaches and other key club personnel developed within the club setting. Two clubs were invited and agreed to take part in the observation phase of the study. The researchers attended practice sessions, matches, social functions, and club meetings during one full season (six months). A semi-structured observation protocol was developed and implemented ( S3 File ).

Positionality.

The researchers’ positioning in relation to the social and political context of the study (i.e., the clubs and their members) is noteworthy. The researchers had had no prior engagement with the clubs, with the exception of some previous research interviews with club committee members at two of the clubs. There was no personal relationship between the researchers and the club communities at the time of the study. The research team was diverse in terms of gender, age, cultural background and academic level. Politically, they were committed to the promotion of safe and inclusive sports environments for children and adults. Throughout the study, the researchers maintained an identity as independent, university-based researchers. In the latter stages of the study, they also actively worked with club representatives to assist in translating research findings and recommendations into practice.

Qualitative data analysis

The research team employed multiple techniques to enhance the trustworthiness and credibility of the qualitative data. Pilot interviews and observations were initially conducted to develop and test the appropriateness of the interview questions and observation protocol. Based on this pilot, the interview guide was refined and a number of questions were reformulated and added. In addition, ongoing discussion and reflection within the research team allowed for researcher triangulation. Investigators who are experts in specific diversity issues (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, Indigeneity) provided advice and input into the development of the interview guide and observation protocol. Finally, data triangulation was performed by systematically comparing the qualitative data to the quantitative results.

Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, while observations were recorded using field notes. The interview transcripts and field notes were entered into Nvivo 11 data analysis software and coded using thematic analysis techniques. The research team independently read a proportion (10%) of the interview transcripts and field notes. Each investigator coded passages of text firstly using an open (or initial meaning code) and secondly an axial (or categorization of open codes) coding scheme. After similar statements related to a theme were open coded, all the statements under this code were then coded a second time to further categorize the statement. Dialogue among the research team resulted in intersubjective agreement on the interpretation of the identified passages and codes. Two research team members then coded the transcripts line by line. A third investigator reviewed the coding, resulting in a final, agreed-upon set of codes and sub-codes. The resulting coding framework for qualitative data analysis can be found in S6 File . In this specific paper, we focus on a small number of codes that emerged as highly salient during the qualitative data analysis process.

Statistical analyses of the survey data

The survey data (pooled across all clubs) was analyzed using linear regression models in SPSS in order to identify overall patterns in responses and how these related to demographic details such as gender, ethno-cultural background and disability. Overall, 450 participants (63.1% male; 62.4% under 18 years of age) completed the survey ( Table 1 ). The average age was 21.0 years and the average length of club membership was 4.4 years. The average socio-economic score was 986.89. This socio-economic score is a measure used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (SEIFA). It is based upon home postcode, with an average of 1000 (and a standard deviation of 100) and higher scores representing higher socio-economic status.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.t001

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee approved this specific study, the study protocol, and the consent procedures, which adhered to the latest version of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans. Written consent forms were obtained from all participants. Competence to give unspecified consent was determined by the researchers during the introductory conversation (pre-interview) with potential participants (aged 13 and above). During this conversation, all relevant information regarding the project (aims, methods, participants’ rights, etc.) was communicated and, if deemed competent, the participant was asked to sign a consent form. For participants aged 13–17, one parent or guardian provided written unspecified consent, in combination with the written unspecified consent of the underage participant.

The results revealed a range of experiences of diversity at the nine sports clubs. Multiple factors influenced the way players, parents, board members, volunteers and coaches understood, experienced and managed diversity. The qualitative data showed that understandings of diversity were broad and differed significantly between individuals and clubs [ 35 ]. Particular understandings were shaped by club culture and local context; for example, clubs located in neighborhoods with high levels of cultural diversity tended to have greater awareness of and engagement with cultural diversity. Clubs tended to focus on aspects of diversity that were already present within their environments, while often neglecting or marginalising other aspects of diversity. For example, clubs with established girls’ or women’s teams reported that they were effectively supporting diversity despite their lack of consideration of other forms of diversity, such as disability or cultural diversity. The findings also revealed that clubs primarily considered and acted on individual axes of diversity in isolation; they were not inclined to view different forms of diversity as being inter-related. In doing so, their actions were informed by a narrow conception of diversity, with more intersectional understandings of diversity being virtually non-existent within the nine sport clubs.

The results identified two factors that significantly affected to what extent and how junior sports clubs’ engaged with children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities: the participation-performance tension, and gender.

Participation-performance tension

The findings revealed a tension between the promotion of diversity and inclusive participation on the one hand, and the focus on sport performance (i.e., winning and competitiveness) on the other hand. Club members’ attitudes towards participation/ performance significantly influenced their approach to diversity. The data showed that the clubs varied in the degree to which they focused upon participation or performative aspects of sport. However, performance pressures existed at all clubs, albeit in different ways. In some clubs, diversity was afforded less priority than performance. This was evident in, for example, the way these clubs prioritized resource allocation. In the interviews, for example, diversity was often viewed as peripheral to, or diverting resources from, a club’s core business, which revolved around organizing teams and improving playing skills. These clubs thus had a particular understanding of what constituted their core business and what constituted organisational success. For example, a performance-oriented female soccer coach reflected:

“That’s one thing I see the club changing in, it used to be definitely everybody must get an equal time, equal share, blah, blah, blah. But, I do see that the club is starting to turn on, well that’s great, but the main goal is to win, and the main goal is to win premierships. But that is the way the world has gone, and that’s the way society … I wanted to help the club win some premierships; because they haven’t won premierships in a long time.”

Revealing a similar dynamics, a more participation-oriented female netball coach reflected:

“Why do we all have to push our kids you’ve got to win to be great? Someone’s got to come second. And I’m not probably pushy enough […] ‘cause I always think go out there and do your very best and I want you to have a great time. Whereas other coaches, you go to win and winning and we’re getting the championship. So I’m probably not strong enough like that. I’m better probably with littler kids. […] It’s a game of netball for God’s sakes, let’s put into perspective; they’re not going to war. Like some people are very serious about their football and netball around here.”

In the survey and interviews, most clubs positioned themselves towards the participation end of the spectrum, meaning that they identified the core aim of the club as being to provide opportunities to participate in sport. However, the qualitative data revealed that this philosophy was compromised where teams had less ability and faced repeated defeat by opposition teams. For example, two clubs reported that opposing teams’ focus on winning as opposed to giving all children equal playing time led to unsatisfactory experiences for children who lost week in week out. The male president of a soccer club described this tension as follows:

“Overall the club philosophy is about giving people as much time on the pitch as possible […] But some coaches apply that differently and it’s not really policed in that sense, so if some girls are regularly being benched it’s hard to manage that unless parents are telling us and ultimately the coach decides. There will be some pressure put on that coach about fairness, but ultimately they may have a different thing about trying to get as… make their team as competitive as possible. It’s no point playing every week where you’re getting thrashed seven nil if you’ve got half your team, your best players on the bench because you’re doing that spreading that fairly.” [ 36 ]

In addition, clubs that actively promoted diversity were generally regarded by outsiders (e.g., coaches and parents from other clubs) as not serious and as having little or no interest in developing talented players. These clubs were therefore perceived as being appropriate for children and young people who were not serious about or “no good” at sport. This labeling process presented challenges for clubs that aimed to provide opportunities for all participants, regardless of ability, and sought to instil a participation rather than performance-based culture. For example, one club had an equal game time policy for all junior players, but when they adhered to this policy and rotated high ability players, coaches received heavy criticism from parents, who argued that the team was not competitive enough.

The survey found that gender (i.e., self-identifying as female) significantly predicted pro-participation attitudes (i.e., giving everyone a chance to participate rather than playing to win) [ 35 ]. Gender (this time, identifying as man) also predicted adherence to strict gender roles (see Table 2 ). We further found that those who identified as men, but also younger participants, were more likely to agree with statements regarding masculine violence (e.g., “it’s natural for men to get into fights”). This finding may suggest greater adherence or acceptance by young people more generally for male violent behavior. Regarding homophobia, significant predictors were, again, identifying as men and being younger. Finally, we found that those who identified as women were significantly more likely to hold pro-disability attitudes captured in statements such as “I would be happy to have players with a disability on my team, even if it would limit my team’s chance of success” (see Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.t002

The qualitative data provided further insight into the role of gender [ 35 ]. The sports clubs reported that they attempted to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for girls and women, yet some clubs revealed persistent gender divisions and a male-dominated atmosphere. For example, referring to gender differences at her club, a female soccer coach stated: “The same as at every club, they have to really fight to get the same recognition as the men. I’ve always seen that, and always felt that. They could be as committed as anything, and prove their worth, but because they don’t draw the crowd that the men draw they aren’t treated as they are as important to a club as the men are.” Several respondents who identified as women reported that they did not attend club social events because they felt uncomfortable in those spaces. For example, a netball coach reported that “it is not that welcoming or friendly, I never really feel like I should be there.” The club facilities were frequently decorated with memorabilia and cultural artefacts (e.g., trophies, photographs, posters) that highlighted the men’s teams’ successes rather than the accomplishments of girls’ and women’s teams.

In line with previous studies of diversity in everyday discourse [ 37 ], this research has found that diversity was interpreted in many different, yet often abstract and universal, ways within and across the junior sports clubs. Individuals were frequently confused about the language of diversity, how diversity actually related to them within the context of their club, and the attitudes or behaviors associated with it. The particular context and culture of each club shaped the parameters for how diversity was understood and experienced, which in turn dictated practical responses to diversity within each club. This finding is consistent with recent research which suggests that the contexts of sports clubs influence how they respond to policy objectives [ 38 ].

The clubs in this study demonstrated varying levels of commitment to diversity. Overall, there was not a consistent approach to the promotion of diversity and inclusion of people of all backgrounds and abilities, nor was there consensus across the clubs that inclusive participation was an important objective. Most clubs recognized the benefits of diversity in terms of increased club membership, additional volunteers, sustainability, and social and health benefits to participants. This finding aligns with management literature that shows how organisations can enact both a business and a social justice case for diversity [ 39 ]. Yet, in contrast to previous studies which found that belief in the benefits of diversity results in higher levels of diversity management practice [ 40 ], this research revealed that junior sports club leaders and members frequently felt overwhelmed by, and under-resourced to deliver on, policy calls to actively promote diversity and social inclusion. Most clubs felt that promoting diversity was beyond their means. Clubs and their volunteers were not necessarily resisting diversity but were implementing diversity in (restricted) ways that they believed the club could cope with. This finding confirms the conclusion of previous research that volunteers face considerable pressure within sports clubs, particularly when delivering agendas that are not see as a core focus [ 41 – 42 ].

The findings complement previous studies that highlight the importance of individual and organizational commitment to diversity for organizational change and creative work environments in sport [ 43 – 46 ]. Two findings stand out. First, our results showed that gender and a range of attitudes about diversity are strongly related. On average, we found that those who identified as men were more likely to support a pro-performance stance, be homophobic, endorse stricter gender roles (while believing there is gender equality) and endorse violence as a natural masculine trait. In addition, those who identified as men were less likely to hold pro-disability attitudes. This does not mean that all individuals who identified as men endorsed such views at levels greater than all who identified as women, but that in general men’s responses were higher on average than women’s responses. These results are consistent with research on gender differences using economic games and moral dilemmas. This body of research indicates that women are more altruistic than men in Dictator Game experiments [ 47 – 48 ], somewhat more cooperative than men in social dilemmas [ 49 ], and more harm averse than men in personal moral dilemmas [ 50 ].

Contextual factors may have driven the attitudes of those who identified as men in some clubs in certain directions. Indeed, differences between clubs highlight the impact such contextual factors may have had [ 35 ]. For example, clubs varied in terms of the socioeconomic, age and cultural diversity of its membership and leadership, which interacted with gender to shape specific attitudes to diversity in complex ways. Beyond demographics, organizational culture played a role in shaping attitudes and behaviors concerning diversity, such as to what extent leaders afforded priority to inclusive participation within club structures, practices and resources. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that gender can intersect with a range of diversity attitudes and can be a facilitator or constraint to diverse and inclusive participation within sports clubs. The particular context of a sports club is likely to moderate these effects. Previous research has indicated how gender shapes girls’ and women’s participation in sport [ 14 – 17 ], but few studies have explored how gender mediates attitudes toward other forms of diversity. Our findings suggest that having more people who identify as women involved in the club, particularly in leadership and management positions, can affect club attitudes and practices toward diverse and inclusive participation. A second major finding is that attitudes of junior sports clubs and their members in regards to participation or performance significantly influenced how they understood and managed diversity. This finding reflects the documented tension between power/performance and pleasure/participation ideologies in global sport [ 51 – 52 ], suggesting that these ideologies also trickle down to the junior level.

The findings reported in this article were drawn from a purposive sample: a set of junior sports clubs that were recognized by their sports governing bodies as being relatively active and successful in promoting diverse participation. It could be hypothesized that other sports clubs, including those that do not engage with diversity or that resist efforts at diversification, experience comparable or more accentuated issues regarding the engagement and inclusion of people with diverse backgrounds and abilities. The current study expands upon existing knowledge on barriers to sport participation experienced by children and young people with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Our study warrants further research investigating the effects of pro-performance attitudes and practices, and gender relations on inclusive participation in recreational sports clubs, taking into consideration the present limitations and suggestions made.

Supporting information

S1 file. interview protocol..

Interview questions used in phase 1 of this study.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s001

S2 File. Survey.

Questionnaire used in phase 2 of this study.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s002

S3 File. Observation protocol.

Observation guide used in phase 4 of this study.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s003

S4 File. Data matrix.

Data matrix in SPSS format used for the statistical analyses in this study.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s004

S5 File. Regressions.

Regression analyses in SPSS format.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s005

S6 File. Coding framework.

Codes used in qualitative data analysis.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214537.s006

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank partner investigators Soo-Lin Quek, Shelley White and Erin Ablett for your contributions to the study. A special thanks to Ryan Storr, Georgia McGrath and Caitlyn MacKenzie for your dedicated work on this project.

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EDITORIAL article

Editorial: gender and racial bias in sport organizations.

• 1 Center for Sport Management Research and Education, Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
• 2 Department of Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
• 3 Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, United States

Editorial on the Research Topic

Gender and Racial Bias in Sport Organizations

Legal mandates, social pressures for inclusion, and shifting demographic landscapes all contribute to an increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in sport ( Cunningham, 2019 ). Some leagues, such as the Women’s National Basketball Association, excel in this area, serving as a model for others ( Lapchick, 2021 ). Despite the presence of exemplars, most of professional sport in the United States remains mired in the decades-long pattern of similarity and exclusion where White, able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual men hold key leadership roles ( Brassil & Lutz, 2020 ). These patterns are also evident in other sport contexts in the United States and around the world ( Ahn & Cunningham, 2017 ; Cunningham et al., 2021 ; Walker & Bopp, 2011 ; Wicker et al., 2019 ; Wicker et al., 2020 ). Thus, even though members of underrepresented, minoritized groups frequently represent the majority of players, leadership roles are seemingly reserved for those who have historically held power.

In addition to limited access, members of underrepresented groups are likely to encounter stereotypes, prejudice, and treatment discrimination in sport. The disparities are evident among athletes, administrators, coaches, officials, and fans ( Burton, 2015 ; Singer, 2016 ; Sveinson et al., 2019 ; Hindman & Walker, 2020 ; Wells et al., 2021 ; Wicker & Kerwin, 2020 ). These patterns suggest that, even though group diversity is frequently associated with desired outcomes, such as organizational effectiveness and positive affective outcomes ( Lee & Cunningham, 2019 ), sport is a place where people who differ from the typical majority face various biases, limiting their access to and full participation in sport.

The purpose of this Research Topic was to explore these issues in greater depth. Specifically, we sought research from authors who 1) focused on taken-for-granted assumptions, 2) considered the myriad of factors that could influence the manifestation of bias, and 3) explored the intersections of race, gender, and other diversity forms. As we outline in the following section, the selected articles accomplished these aims.

Selected Dimensions of Gender and Racial Bias in Sport Organizations

One of the themes to materialize from the articles was the value of critically examining the presence of and consequences of diverging from taken-for-granted assumptions and practices. Frick and Moser ’s study offers an apt illustration, questioning the assumption that, among Nordic and Alpine skiers, women are less competitive than men. To do so, they analyzed decades of data from the sport. Their results showed that women and men were equally adept at managing career successes and failures, and that the career length of women and men was virtually identical. Thus, at least among elite skiers, their findings counter the notion of gender differences in competitiveness and drive. From another perspective, Braumüller et al. drew from a large-scale dataset, which included respondents from Germany, Scotland, Austria, Italy, and Hungary, to explore the experiences of transgender, non-binary, and cisgender athletes. Given that sport is largely segregated based on sex assigned at birth, and transgender and non-binary athletes challenge this demarcation, it is possible they have poor experiences in sport. Consistent with this perspective, results showed that transgender and non-binary athletes faced continued anti-trans bias, including structural forms of discrimination.

Two articles considered factors that might influence the presence of bias in sport. Mire et al. , for example, conducted a study of weightlifters and examined whether coach-athlete gender similarity influenced the athletes’ performance. Among men, gender congruence was associated with better performance. Women performed better when their coach was a man, but only until age 43, at which point they performed better when guided by a woman. The authors noted historical biases against women in the sport could contribute to these patterns. Demographic similarity, or a lack thereof, is also associated with referee decisions. Specifically, in examining multiple years of data from the National Football League, Eiserloh et al. found that Black umpires called more penalties when their referee (the leader of the team of officials) was White. The authors reasoned that Black umpires might feel more pressure to assess infractions when their team leader is White—stresses others have observed in different sport contexts ( Foreman & Turick, 2020 ).

The importance of contextual factors was highlighted in two studies. Focusing on men’s intercollegiate basketball in the United States, Nesseler et al. found that Black coaches were underrepresented—a pattern that continued for decades. The effects were more pronounced, however, in Division III institutions, which are comparatively smaller with more White undergraduate students. Gomez-Gonzalez et al. also illustrated the importance of context. The authors noted that previous researchers had found that demographic dissimilarity was associated with the number of infractions a referee called on an athlete. Most of these studies, though, were set in the United States or United Kingdom and focused on men’s sport. Gomez-Gonzalez et al. diverged from this pattern, analyzing data from women’s basketball teams in Spain. Contrary to previous work, the authors observed no effects of racial dissimilarity or nationality dissimilarity. Thus, the country and sport might moderate the relationship between dissimilarity and infractions called.

Finally, other contributors highlighted the importance of explicitly considering intersectionality—a position for which previous researchers have advocated ( Walker & Melton, 2015 ). In the first study, Bartsch and Rulofs focused on physical education teachers’ attitudes toward children from refugee backgrounds. Racialized and gendered notions of threat and vulnerability were evident, with four themes emerging: victimization and vulnerabilization, notions of threat and impulsivity, claims for assimilation and normalization , and demands for discipline . Given the increased number of refugees around the world, and the important role of physical activity and sport in their lives ( Anderson et al., 2019 ), Bartsch and Rulofs’ findings are especially instructive. Finally, Cooper and colleagues made a persuasive argument for new, innovative leadership approaches in sport. They argued that leaders should adopt anti-racism, anti-sexism, and culturally responsive stances. Only through such a paradigmatic shift can leaders hope to create and maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion in their sport organizations.

The Research Topic enhances the understanding of gender and racial bias in sport and its organizational settings. The included articles have provided rich insights into the topic from a number of perspectives, including the challenge of taken-for-granted assumptions, the study of factors that might influence the presence of bias in sport, the role of contextual factors in terms of national research settings, and the consideration of intersectionality. They help understanding how, why, and in what contexts gender and racial bias toward and discrimination of under-represented groups in sport is evident, ultimately enhancing the evidence base for taking informed action toward making sport a more inclusive and diverse environment.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, race, sport, intersectionality

Citation: Cunningham GB, Wicker P and Walker NA (2021) Editorial: Gender and Racial Bias in Sport Organizations. Front. Sociol. 6:684066. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.684066

Received: 22 March 2021; Accepted: 18 May 2021; Published: 31 May 2021.

Edited and reviewed by:

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*Correspondence: George B. Cunningham, [email protected]

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Diversifying Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in American College Athletics: The Case for Adaptive (And Other Non-Traditional) Sports

Authors: Kevin T. McGinniss, Ed.D. (Southern Connecticut State University), Demetri Goutos, B.A., M.B.A. (Yale University), and Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, M.D., M.P.H. (Yale University).

Corresponding author: Kevin T. McGinniss, EdD Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT USA 06515 Campus Site: Office Building 1, 108G Phone: 203-392-8837 Email: [email protected]

Kevin T. McGinniss, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor, Graduate Coordinator, and Director of Sport Management at Southern Connecticut State University. Demetri Goutos, B.A., M.B.A., and Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, M.D., M.P.H. are members of an independent research lab at Yale University, dedicated to addressing inequities and unethical behavior in sport, while at the same time, using sport to address inequities and unethical behavior in society.

The popularization of adaptive sports on college campuses has incredible potential to affect real and meaningful change for students with disabilities across the country. Despite clear language promoting equality and fairness espoused by the NCAA and member universities, as well as legislation requiring equal opportunities for students with disabilities, early attempts to adopt inclusive sports strategies have all but evaporated. Another category of non-traditional sports programming, however, has taken off in recent years. eSports, or competitive video games, has seen a meteoric rise in support, investment, and growth on the collegiate athletic scene, and show that when properly motivated the NCAA and member institutions act with surprising conviction. With their proven ability to react and organize, and the need clearly defined, the NCAA must return its attention to increasing athletic opportunities for student-athletes with disabilities.

Key words : NCAA, eSports, disability, sports programming

INTRODUCTION

Like all sports, adaptive college sports (e.g. sports for student-athletes with disabilities) have the potential to spark positive change by bringing people together for a common purpose, but these programs need meaningful support to succeed. Given the sea-change in American attitudes towards inequities in sport, there is no better time for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to rethink its approach to intercollegiate varsity (college-level) adaptive sports.

America is getting better about addressing inequities in sport head-on. In June 2019, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) changed its name to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), projecting a view that athletes with and without disabilities hold equal status. In the same month, the U.S. Women’s soccer team toppled the world’s best in spectacular fashion, while also using its platform to highlight pay disparities between male and female players. These disparities mirror age-old, gender-based pay gaps in the broader American (and global) workplace, and America seems to have had enough. While elite American athletes are learning how to equitably share spotlight, what is happening at the college level?

The USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council (USOPC CAC) recently recommended that the NCAA institute changes to improve the intercollegiate (college) experience for student-athletes who compete internationally. This includes Paralympic athletes, who for years may not have had support on campus, even while representing the U.S. on world stages. If enacted, these recommendations may be the first steps towards filling a gap in support for student-athletes with disabilities, and may highlight disparities these students face.

Adaptive sports offer visibility and a voice to a growing community of students with disabilities. Research confirms that a broad lack of awareness continues to prevent the full social inclusion and integration of students with disabilities at American universities(1).  It also shows, promisingly, that awareness-raising efforts have had a significant impact (2). Despite high levels of participation at youth and professional levels, there is a comparative and concerning dearth of college-level competitive adaptive sports venues (with some notable exceptions, such as the recent efforts by the City University of New York (CUNY) to build a collegiate wheelchair basketball team).

So how do sports programs grow? Athletics departments and the NCAA each play significant roles in the fate of any new program, deciding the program’s status, stature, organizational structure, and degree of financial and programmatic support. In the past, the NCAA has had inconsistent interest in adaptive sports. A few years ago, in response to criticism that universities were failing to offer equal opportunities to students with disabilities required under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the NCAA attempted to create change. In 2015, the Eastern Collegiate Athletics Conference (ECAC) became the first NCAA-sanctioned conference to adopt a comprehensive inclusive sport strategy providing championship opportunities for student-athletes with disabilities in swimming, rowing, and track & field, as an outgrowth of the 2013 NCAA Think Tank on Student-Athletes with Disabilities. Despite early enthusiasm, the championships have not been continued and there are no concrete signs of future support for systematic inclusion of student-athletes with disabilities from the NCAA. Meanwhile, the ECAC appears to instead be putting a major focus on expanding into eSports, as have many intercollegiate athletics departments across the country.

While it can be difficult to build a non-traditional sports program, the support given to eSports (e.g. competitive video game playing) can serve as a precedent. College eSports has seen exponential growth in the last few years, first at the club level, and more recently as full-blown, university-sponsored varsity athletic programs, some offering scholarships. Universities are wholeheartedly supporting eSports development, and the NCAA spent years investigating the potential to bring it under its banner. This level of support demonstrates institutions can move quickly and decisively when motivated.

eSports allow institutions to honor the NCAA core value of creating an “inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes” within member institutions(3). They also position schools to earn a slice of the eSports industry, expected to exceed $1 billion in market revenue this year. Universities are acutely aware of opportunities to gain the attention of prospective tuition-paying applicants.

Greed (and cynicism) aside, ensuring the financial viability of athletic programs and boosting application rates is an important role the NCAA and members must play. That said, it’s not a zero sum game. Institutions can attend to the business of raising actual capital (through supporting eSports, for example), while raising the bar on social capital by making sure diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive—and acknowledge all non-traditional athletes. Implementing recommendations set forth by the USOPC CAC, and re-launching the conversation started by the ECAC about adaptive sports would be a good start. Taking another look at how to better and more formally support an ever-increasing number of students with disabilities through sports would give member universities who, at least in writing, laud the value of diversity a chance to explore these themes further.

All things considered, the case for expanding varsity intercollegiate competition opportunities for student-athletes with disabilities (mandated by law) is clear.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

• Berg, L.A., et al. (2017). Navigating the hidden curriculum of higher education for postsecondary students with intellectual disabilities. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(3). doi: 10.5014/ajot.2017.024703.
• Denhart, H. (2008). Deconstructing barriers: Perceptions of students labeled with learning disabilities in higher education. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(6), 483-497.
• NCAA. (2017). NCAA inclusion statement. Retrieved from: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/inclusion/ncaa-inclusion-statement.

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Title: equity, diversity, and inclusion in sports analytics.

Abstract: This paper presents a landmark study of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the field of sports analytics. We developed a survey that examined personal and job-related demographics, as well as individual perceptions and experiences about EDI in the workplace. We sent the survey to individuals in the five major North American professional leagues, representatives from the Olympic and Paralympic Committees in Canada and the U.S., the NCAA Division I programs, companies in sports tech/analytics, and university research groups. Our findings indicate the presence of a clear dominant group in sports analytics identifying as: young (72.0%), White (69.5%), heterosexual (89.7%) and male (82.0%). Within professional sports, males in management positions earned roughly 30,000 USD (27%) more on average compared to females. A smaller but equally alarming pay gap of 17,000 USD (14%) was found between White and non-White management personnel. Of concern, females were nearly five times as likely to experience discrimination and twice as likely to have considered leaving their job due to isolation or feeling unwelcome. While they had similar levels of agreement regarding fair processes for rewards and compensation, females "strongly agreed" less often than males regarding equitable support, equitable workload, having a voice, and being taken seriously. Over one third (36.3%) of females indicated that they "strongly agreed" that they must work harder than others to be valued equally, compared to 9.8% of males. We conclude the paper with concrete recommendations that could be considered to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive environment for individuals working within the sports analytics sector.

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Cassidy, T.; Byrne, G. It Is Leadership, but (Maybe) Not as You Know It: Advocating for a Diversity Paradigm in Sports Leadership and Beyond. Behav. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 860. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14100860

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