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There has been some big news in the sporting and academic worlds! The University of Canberra has announced that they will be spending $1 million dollars focused on promoting women in sport.
The main intention is to address the gaps in knowledge about women in high-performance sport, community sport, coaching, officiating, leading sports organisations, the media, sports integrity, and sports law (basically all things sport) through ten PhD scholarships.
Student-athletes will also benefit through an additional 50 scholarships a year being offered to help them balance the demands of being a high-performing athlete and successful student, with fellowships and other research also being supported.
“This is really about building a cohort of people who can operate within that elite sporting environment, add to the knowledge base and lead the industry forward in the area of women in sport,” says Professor Michelle Lincoln, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health .
“We know that only around 30 per cent of the published literature and knowledge that is about sport is based on women. There’s a huge deficit here, and we’re looking to really shift the dial on that and increase what we know about women in sport,”
It won’t just be high-performing athletes that benefit from the research being undertaken through these grants, but everyday women will also reap the benefits of additional research in the field.
“For my first project for my PhD, I interviewed some powerlifters in the ACT and one of the really strong themes that came out of that was that strength training and focusing on increasing physical strength is really empowering and healing for women,” says third year PhD student, Erin Kelly.
Erin’s thesis focuses on how maximal strength training—which increases physical strength—can empower women who have experienced domestic violence.
“I think it’s really amazing that the university is putting more money into sport. Quite often when we think about sports research, we’re focused on elite-level sporting teams and organisations, but I think it’s also important to recognize that sport and physical activity can benefit the community. It’s also about community engagement,” Erin says.
This is just one more step in the right direction for bridging the gap between men and women in the sporting industry, helping to gain a better understanding of the different treatments and infrastructure needed.
“For industry and for potential partners it’s not about a traditional return on investment, it’s about social equity,” says UC Director of Sport, Carrie Graf. “I think that needs investment to help bridge the gap across all things that are inequitable in women’s sports.”
UC Director of Sports, Carrie Graf. Photo credit: Tyler Cherry.
“The investment in sport for women and sport for girls is one that’s needed and one that can have social impact… Even longitudinal research about the impact for girls and women of playing sports at a young age and how that impacts their ability to be strong leaders outside of the sporting environment,”
Another impact that the investment will highlight is the repercussions of sporting injury in women, who often go through traumatic recovery processes that most men will never have to face.
“You know women who’ve had breast cancer and perhaps have had a mastectomy and were runners don’t tend to return to their normal sports after having breast cancer,” says Michelle. “Why is that and what can we do about it? Are there ways of supporting women returning to sport?”
For students and researchers, the chance to get these opportunities is something they are racing to be a part of especially as it helps to shape the next generation of leaders in women’s sports.
“It’s a massive opportunity for students like myself and for future students to be embedded within the environment where you can provide resources that extend beyond what my project and other students’ projects will be looking at and to help those athletes and teams,” says first year PhD student Michael Pengelly.