Background to the Network and Conference
The overall purpose of the Women in Sport and Exercise Academic Network (WiSEAN) is to grow, strengthen, and promote research on women in sport and exercise, with the ultimate goal of optimizing women’s athletic success and their sport participation. The catalyst for the development of the network was the underrepresentation of female participants in sport and exercise medicine research (Costello, Bieuzen, & Bleakley, 2014). Due to this underrepresentation, research evidence based on men is often inappropriately generalized and applied to women (Sims & Heather, 2018). Gender bias is also apparent in conference speakers and academic panel members (Bekker et al., 2018) as well as in leadership positions in sport (Pape, 2020), where males consistently outnumber females. The network, therefore, exists to help minimize gender inequalities in research and academia, through promoting female-focused research as part of the annual conference and by supporting female researchers through its mentoring scheme. Further activities of WiSEAN can be found on the website: https://www.wisean.net/.
Introduction to the 2020 Conference: Getting Back on Their Feet
Owing to COVID-19, which in many countries led to restrictions regarding travel and public gatherings, the planned 2020 face-to-face conference was replaced with a free virtual event, hosted by Staffordshire University, UK. With early research evidence suggesting that COVID-19 had heightened gender inequalities in sport, employment, and academia (Bowes, Lomax, & Piasecki, 2020; Collins, Landivar, Ruppanner, & Scarborough, 2020; Oleschuk, 2020), the focus of the conference, ‘getting back on their feet’, aimed to virtually connect individuals from a range of disciplines to ensure that sport and exercise research had a focus on women during COVID-19 and beyond. The conference also provided networking opportunities to connect with others in sport and exercise, as well as providing training and motivation through knowledge gained via others’ research and experience. The Conference Scientific Committee comprised Dr. Jacky Forsyth (Staffordshire University), Dr. Rachael Bullingham (University of Gloucestershire), Dr. Nicola Brown (St Mary’s University), and Dr. Claire-Marie Roberts (Premier League, UK), with technical direction from Mr. Matthew Coombe-Boxall (Staffordshire University).
Conference Review
Brilliant online conference with a great variety of speakers and topics. I’ll be taking away lots of learning and potential contacts to follow up with!
The ability to have some of the world’s leading experts because of the virtual nature of the event was a strength of the conference.
Having people from all different backgrounds/disciplines but all working towards increasing the presence of women in research was inspiring.
I found the conference inspirational and stimulating and has fired me up to be an advocate for more research on females and ensure research on females is better represented in our curriculum.
Suggested areas for improvement included more opportunities for collaborative and face-to-face (online) communication via the chat facility, which was difficult to negotiate for some delegates. Additionally, comments were received about the duration of the conference days, lasting all day and into the evening; however, in order to accommodate international speakers and delegates, this was unavoidable.
Looking Ahead
The fourth WiSEAN conference will take place on April 19–22, 2021 and will be hosted virtually by the University of Worcester, UK. This conference will maintain the multidisciplinary approach of previous years and will cover all aspects of women’s involvement in sport. The conference will have an international focus and aim to bring together practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines to allow discussion and debate surrounding women’s participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity. The conference has been titled ‘Redressing the Balance’ and the purpose of the conference is to raise awareness and address inequalities from both an academic’s and practitioner’s perspective, in addition to assessing impact and sharing areas of good practice. On day four, there will be a parallel virtual conference, as part of a European Commission–funded Erasmus+ project which the University of Worcester is leading with six other international partners. The project is entitled the ‘Gender Equity Toolkit for Generation Z’ (an educational online resource via a MOOC [massive open online course]) and aims to educate Generation Z in issues of equity in sport with the purpose of increasing the number of women and girls in all forms of sport leadership and management. The impact and implications for practice from this three-year project will be shared along with key research studies focusing on gender perceptions, communication, and Generation Z.
References
Bekker, S., Ahmed, O.H., Bakare, U., Blake, T.A., Brooks, A.M., Davenport, T.E., . . . Whittaker, J.L. (2018). We need to talk about manels: The problem of implicit gender bias in sport and exercise medicine. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(20), 1–2. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099084
Bowes, A., Lomax, L., & Piasecki, J. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on elite sportswomen. Managing Sport and Leisure. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/23750472.2020.1825988
Collins, C., Landivar, L.C., Ruppanner, L., & Scarborough, W.J. (2020). COVID‐19 and the gender gap in work hours. Gender, Work & Organization. Advance online publication. doi:10.1111/gwao.12506
Costello, J.T., Bieuzen, F., & Bleakley, C.M. (2014). Where are all the female participants in sports and exercise medicine research? European Journal of Sport Science, 14(8), 847–851. doi:10.1080/17461391.2014.911354
Oleschuk, M. (2020). Gender equity considerations for tenure and promotion during COVID-19. Canadian Review of Sociology, 57(3), 502–515. doi:10.1111/cars.12295
Pape, M. (2020). Gender segregation and trajectories of organizational change: The underrepresentation of women in sports leadership. Gender & Society, 34(1), 81–105. doi:10.1177/0891243219867914
Sims, S.T., & Heather, A.K. (2018). Myths and methodologies: Reducing scientific design ambiguity in studies comparing sexes and/or menstrual cycle phases. Experimental Physiology, 103(10), 1309–1317. doi:10.1113/EP086797
