Under-representation of women is alive and well in sport and exercise medicine: what it looks like and what we can do about it

Nash Anderson¹, Diana Gai Robinson^{2

3}, Evert Verhagen⁴, Kristina Fagher⁵, Pascal Edouard^{6

7}, Daniel Rojas-Valverde⁸, Osman Hassan Ahmed^{9

10

11}, Moa Jederström¹², Laila Usacka¹³, Justine Benoit-Piau¹⁴, Candy Giselle Foelix¹⁵, Carole Akinyi Okoth^{16

17

18

19

20}, Nefeli Tsiouti^{21

22}, Trine Moholdt^{23

24}, Larissa Pinheiro²⁵, Sharief Hendricks^{26

27}, Blair Hamilton²⁸, Rina Magnani²⁹, Marelise Badenhorst³⁰, Daniel L Belavy³¹

Affiliations

¹ Tuggeranong Chiropractic Centre, Fadden, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
² Sydney Sportsmed Specialists, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ School of Medicine, Notre Dame University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University Medical Centers - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁵ Rehabilitation Medicine Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Clinical and Exercise Physiology, Sports Medicine Unit, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Etienne, France.
⁷ Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, Lyon 1, Université Savoie Mont-Blanc, Inter-university Laboratory of Human Movement Biology (EA 7424), Saint-Etienne, France.
⁸ Sport Injury Clinic (Rehab&Readapt), Human Movement Sciences and Quality of Life School (CIEMHCAVI), National University of Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica.
⁹ Physiotherapy Department, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, Poole, UK.
¹⁰ The Football Association, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
¹¹ School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.
¹² Athletics Research Center (ARC), Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences (HMV), Linköping University, Linkoping, Sweden.
¹³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁴ School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Medicine and Science, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁵ Child of this Culture Foundation, Orlando, Florida, USA.
¹⁶ National Spinal Injury Referral Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁷ Ministry of Health, Narobi, Kenya.
¹⁸ Medical Commission, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁹ National Olympic Committee of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.
²⁰ Kenya Hockey Union, Nairobi, Kenya.
²¹ Project Breakalign, Nicosia, Cyprus.
²² School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Engomi, Cyprus.
²³ Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norweigan University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
²⁴ Women's Clinic, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
²⁵ Department of Physical Therapy, School of Physical Education, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate Program. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
²⁶ Department of Human Biology, Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Lifestyle and Sport (HPALS) Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
²⁷ Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Leeds Beckett University Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds, UK.
²⁸ Centre for Stress and Age Related Disease, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK.
²⁹ School of Physical Education and Physical Therapy, State University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
³⁰ Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
³¹ Hochschule für Gesundheit, Germany; Department of Applied Health Sciences, Gesundheitscampus 6-8, Bochum, Germany.

PMID: 37200777
PMCID: PMC10186450
DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001606

Editorial

Under-representation of women is alive and well in sport and exercise medicine: what it looks like and what we can do about it

Nash Anderson et al. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2023.

. 2023 Apr 5;9(2):e001606.

doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001606. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Tuggeranong Chiropractic Centre, Fadden, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
² Sydney Sportsmed Specialists, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ School of Medicine, Notre Dame University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University Medical Centers - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁵ Rehabilitation Medicine Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Clinical and Exercise Physiology, Sports Medicine Unit, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Etienne, France.
⁷ Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, Lyon 1, Université Savoie Mont-Blanc, Inter-university Laboratory of Human Movement Biology (EA 7424), Saint-Etienne, France.
⁸ Sport Injury Clinic (Rehab&Readapt), Human Movement Sciences and Quality of Life School (CIEMHCAVI), National University of Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica.
⁹ Physiotherapy Department, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, Poole, UK.
¹⁰ The Football Association, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
¹¹ School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.
¹² Athletics Research Center (ARC), Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences (HMV), Linköping University, Linkoping, Sweden.
¹³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁴ School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Medicine and Science, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁵ Child of this Culture Foundation, Orlando, Florida, USA.
¹⁶ National Spinal Injury Referral Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁷ Ministry of Health, Narobi, Kenya.
¹⁸ Medical Commission, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁹ National Olympic Committee of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya.
²⁰ Kenya Hockey Union, Nairobi, Kenya.
²¹ Project Breakalign, Nicosia, Cyprus.
²² School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Engomi, Cyprus.
²³ Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norweigan University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
²⁴ Women's Clinic, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
²⁵ Department of Physical Therapy, School of Physical Education, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate Program. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
²⁶ Department of Human Biology, Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Lifestyle and Sport (HPALS) Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
²⁷ Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Leeds Beckett University Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds, UK.
²⁸ Centre for Stress and Age Related Disease, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK.
²⁹ School of Physical Education and Physical Therapy, State University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
³⁰ Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
³¹ Hochschule für Gesundheit, Germany; Department of Applied Health Sciences, Gesundheitscampus 6-8, Bochum, Germany.

PMID: 37200777
PMCID: PMC10186450
DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001606

No abstract available

Keywords: Exercise; Female; Sport; Women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: NA, DLB, DGR are senior editorial board members, KF, PE, DR-V, OHA, MJ, LU, JB-P, CGF, CO, NT, TM, LSPP, SH, BH, RM, MB are associate editors, and EV is the editor-in-chief of BMJ Open Sports & Exercise Medicine.

References

1. Sanderson K. How sports science is neglecting female athletes. Nature 14, 2022. 10.1038/d41586-022-04460-3 Available: URL:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04460-3 - DOI - PubMed
1. Mondini Trissino da Lodi C, Landini MP, Asunis E, et al. . Women have tendons… and tendinopathy: gender bias is A “gender void” in sports medicine with A lack of women data on patellar tendinopathy-A systematic review. Sports Med Open 2022;8:74. 10.1186/s40798-022-00455-6 Available: https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-022... - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Fortington LV, Badenhorst M, Bolling C, et al. . Are we levelling the playing field? A qualitative case study of the awareness, uptake and relevance of the IOC consensus statements in two countries. Br J Sports Med 2023. 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105984 Available: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/31/bjsports-2022-105984 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Martínez-Rosales E, Hernández-Martínez A, Sola-Rodríguez S, et al. . Representation of women in sport sciences research, publications, and editorial leadership positions: are we moving forward? J Sci Med Sport 2021;24:1093–7. 10.1016/j.jsams.2021.04.010 Available: URL:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244021001067 - DOI - PubMed
1. Cowan SM, Kemp JL, Ardern CL, et al. . Sport and exercise medicine/physiotherapy publishing has a gender/sex equity problem: we need action now! [Internet]. Br J Sports Med 2023;57:401–7. 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106055 Available: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/11/bjsports-2022-106055 - DOI - PubMed

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Under-representation of women is alive and well in sport and exercise medicine: what it looks like and what we can do about it

Affiliations

Under-representation of women is alive and well in sport and exercise medicine: what it looks like and what we can do about it

Authors

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources