Gender-role stereotypes applied to women working in male-dominated areas
"Gender-role stereotypes are at times applied to women working in male-dominated
areas, especially college athletics" (Mazerolle, Burton, & Cotrufo, 2015d). Women are typically
seen as motherly and nurturing figures by student-athletes and coaches. The first barrier is the
care and concern they put toward student-athletes. "Female athletic trainers are described in
various studies as caring, nurturing, and even motherly, while male athletic trainers are described
as agentic, forceful, self-confident and aggressive" (Graf, 2014). The words used to describe
women share a sense of weakness or softness, while those used to describe men paint a picture
of strength or firmness, ultimately leading the reader to attribute women to a stereotype that is
not suitable to support the desired needs of male athletics. Often comments are made about a
male coach serving as a father figure. They imply a sense of strength, toughness, and grit. The
researcher has been referred to as a second mom to her student-athletes, caring, comforting and
kind. This philosophy is not surprising; after all, when men are firm, direct, and hard-nosed, they
are considered strong and confident. Women that display those characteristics are considered
dramatic and sensitive.
Title VII and Title IX were passed to provide equal opportunities to women in
employment and education (Mazerolle et al., 2012). In 2012 Mazerolle et al. stated that sport has
traditionally been an area of society that has made access difficult for those who differed from
the white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied majority. "Although Title IX protection may serve as
motivation for female ATs to enter the collegiate ranks, the legislation does not mandate equal
work environments for male and female ATs" (Mazerolle et al., 2012). Mazerolle et al. (2012)
investigated gender bias in the ranks of female collegiate athletic trainers. They concluded that
since the passage of Title IX in 1972, the percentage of women holding positions in collegiate
coaching and administrative ranks have declined. The number of women employed in the
collegiate athletic training setting is significantly underrepresented, given the growing number of
women entering the athletic training profession (Mazerolle et al., 2012). The authors further state
that for female athletic trainers, the ability to fulfill all her roles (mother, caretaker, spouse,
ATC) is the most significant determining factor for retention in their position. Unfortunately,
within the collegiate setting, social norms leave women feeling as though they need to choose
work or family (Mazerolle & Eason, 2016c). Internal pressure leaves women feeling that they
must choose work over family. Society then shames women for not choosing family over work.
Mazerolle et al. (2012) further noted that while Title IX encourages women to enter the
collegiate athletic ranks, it does not mandate equal work environments for men and women.
Women routinely receive fewer resources and opportunities than they have earned based on
their job performance and criteria. This is a form of discrimination that affects the functional
outcomes for many women. Women are also faced with treatment discrimination. Treatment
discrimination comes in the form of their work assignments, the opportunity for promotion and
salary increases, and ultimately the support one receives from their administration. Men
dominate the leadership positions in the NCAA. Most significantly, Mazerolle et al. (2012)
noted that 90% of NCAA DI athletic directors were male, 70% of the associate/assistant athletic
directors are male, and 84% of the head athletic trainers were male. This demographic allows
men to set the tone regarding hiring and work policies.
With most administrators and coaches being male, female athletic trainers need to
navigate the male-female interaction more than the female-female interaction. Graf (2014) notes
that women, specifically female athletic trainers, lack leadership positions in collegiate athletics
largely because men hold primary control. Graf (2014) further states that these individuals are
responsible for setting the hiring and workplace policy agenda. Sadly, many women damage
themselves when it comes to hiring people for leadership positions. "A mutual understanding
whereby both women and men acknowledge that men have more power, control, and access
than women" (as cited in Graf, 2014). "Women athletic trainers had to deal with coaches going
to male athletic trainers to make sure that the female had done it right or explained an injury
correctly to them" (as cited in Graf, 2014). In the experience of this investigator, as a female
certified athletic trainer that has stood her ground against male coaches and administrators, often
told to back down, and it was unacceptable to challenge the male coach or administrator.
Women are chastised for taking a complaint to the athletic director before addressing the
coach. Yet, the coach can go straight to the athletic director to complain about us without ever
having to talk to us face to face. I was once informed I was incapable of understanding the
complexities of collegiate athletics. My colleagues and I have repeatedly been questioned about
our capabilities and knowledge. Our male coaches will seek medical advice from other sources
because they deem that our combined 54 years of experience lack in knowledge. Along with the
issue of women being seen as too soft comes the insinuation that having an emotional connection
with a male student-athlete equates with the woman having romantic feelings for this individual
(Graf, 2014). "If female athletic trainers were friendly, they were sociable, which meant they
were a distraction to the male athletes" (as cited in Graf, 2014).
Women as caretakers
The spread of women into the job market in the1960s challenged the notion that women
are the primary caretakers of the family and home (Sayer, 2005). The challenge of balancing
career and family is hardly new for women. While men are taking on more of the caretaking
burden, women are still three times more likely to face hardships in work-family conflict than
men (Parker, 2015). Despite more men being present in the caretaker role in the family model,
the bulk of the caregiver responsibility falls on the mother. "Women’s movement into paid
work has not led to a redistribution of household labor between men and women because
women’s performance and men’s avoidance of unpaid work remains a potent daily enactment
of unequal gender relations (Sayer, 2005). Sayer (2005) also argues that society continues to
add pressure to this scenario by placing guilt on women that are choosing to have a career and
a family.
“Although work-life enrichment is increasingly recognized as a benefit of working while
simultaneously engaging in a parental role, athletic training leaders are not seen to be helped by
this benefit” (Mazerolle & Eason, 2016c). Nearly all mothers in athletic training report conflict
in balancing their personal life and work-life with work-life conflict arising from time spent at
work, travel requirements, and inflexible schedules (Naugle, Behar-Horenstein, Dodd, Tillman,
& Borsa, 2013). “Conflict is also exacerbated by a variety of individual contributors, such as the
need to parent and complete household responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, and
other domestic tasks” (Mazerolle & Eason, 2016c).
Control over work schedules can come with managerial and administrative positions.
However, in the researcher’s observations of working mothers in athletic training,
managerial positions are not the norm and do not come easily for those in their childbearing
years.
As a result, those who work full-time and raise children have represented a
minority in the workplace. Additionally, both in the general workplace and in
athletics, women have historically been underrepresented in managerial roles,
placing them further in the minority (Bruening & Dixon, 2008).
Managing childcare is another issue that mothers in athletic training face on a continuing
basis. To manage the demands of work and the care required for preschool and elementary
school-aged children, mothers in athletic training must negotiate with childcare providers and
often employ nannies to care for children outside of the typical working hours of the general
working population. For mothers in athletic training, “childcare arrangements are as important
as job requirements for working nonstandard hours, whereas, among men, the presence of
children of any age is of little consequence in their ability to work nonstandard hours”
(Bruening Dixon, 2008). For many families in collegiate athletic training, childcare boils down
to shift work.
Family time has significantly reduced, and couples report less marital and family
satisfaction. This negative impact has been shown to produce harmful effects on the
well-being of employees. Stress-related heart, gastrointestinal and mental health
conditions are rising in mothers in athletic training adding to the stress level and
decreased work-life happiness (Bruening & Dixon, 2008).
As family responsibilities increase, the number of women in the workplace decreases.
“Women tend to perceive a greater conflict between professional and family responsibilities
and greater difficulty reentering the profession after leaving for family obligations” (Kahanov
& Eberman, 2011). In athletic training, policies that work in other formal work settings simply
do not align with the collegiate profession's demands.
Women place more emphasis on family and the role of caretaker, a dogma that creates
the platform for conflict. Because of prevailing societal gender norms, women
characteristically have a more challenging time managing work and family
responsibilities. They report constantly feeling as if they must prove their worth
(Mazerolle & Eason, 2016c).
Working women will face more challenges balancing career and family than working men
because of their philosophies regarding motherhood and traditional cultural gender stereotypes
(Mazerolle et al., 2015d).
Few studies looked at retention and attrition factors for men in any athletic training
setting. Mazerolle and Pitney (2012) studied retention factors of male athletic trainers at the
NCAA Division I setting. They noted that the factors of weekly work hours, travel, and coach
expectations equally impact men and women and the dissatisfaction that occurs in the collegiate
work setting. Through their study, the male participants indicated two primary reasons for their
desired retention, the NCAA Division I atmosphere and work environment. Men had a stronger
desire to remain in the NCAA Division I setting because they enjoyed the excitement of the
competitive, high-caliber athletes found in this setting (Mazerolle & Pitney, 2012).
Both men and women equally indicated that having a supportive work environment,
including an encouraging and supportive head certified athletic trainer, was a significant factor
in choosing to persist in the collegiate setting (Mazerolle & Pitney, 2012). Men have also been
shown to shift their work setting from collegiate to clinical to accommodate their family needs,
where women make complete career changes to fulfill these needs (Mazerolle, Eason, Pitney,
Mueller, 2015e). While both studies indicated that men and women feel the same pressure of
work-life conflict, men tend to stay in athletic training but switch their work setting, and women
tend to leave the profession entirely.
Guilt factor.
Guilt comprises feelings of tension, remorse, regret, and a sense of doing something
wrong (Thomson, Ebisch-Burton, & Flacking, 2015). Many mothers in athletic training
expressed a deep sense of guilt because they were missing their children's events because
their working responsibility was to take care of other people’s children (Mazerolle & Eason,
2016c). “Multiple demands on parents related to work and child-rearing responsibilities create
time-constraint issues and adversely affects both the quality of work and the attention paid to
family” (Kahanov et al., 2010). Kahanov et al. (2010) investigated to what degree parenting
and family obligations led to the low number of female mothers in athletic training in the
collegiate setting. They established five themes based on the parenthood and employment
experiences of mothers in athletic training. The themes were: struggling with time
management, difficulty juggling parenthood and work responsibilities, traditional gender-role
issues, career decisions based on children, or a combination of all these issues. Within their
study, Kahanov et al. (2010) found 25% of female mothers in athletic training indicated they
neglected family nights because of work obligations and believed that work and family
commitments were too significant to handle well at the same time. Almost all the participants
believed as though their family was often neglected due to work commitments.
Athletic culture.
Opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport continue to grow. However,
women's opportunities to continue this love of sport in paid professions are diminishing (Inglis et
al., 2000). Kamphoff (2010) states that in the United States, sport is a popular cultural practice
where dominant ideologies are constructed, maintained, reproduced, and defined around
patriarchal ideologies. This patriarchal nature has impacted women’s coaching experiences and
the decision to terminate their careers (Kamphoff, 2010).
Everhart, & Pemberton (2001) turned a harsh lens upon the gender-biased athletics
system. Sport became part of the school curriculum in the mid-1800s. The authors suggested
this was an important line of defense against the feminization of males because of the growth o
female teachers. Pemberton (1997) noted that more women joined the teaching force in
response to men's departure to early periods of war. Furthermore, she noted that sport was
developed as an effort to foster and preserve healthy male development. Sport intensified
traditional notions of masculinity that educators found sports so attractive and incorporated
them into the official school program (as cited in Everhart et al., 2001). Sport was literally
incorporated in the educational curriculum by men, for men, to serve men, evolving as a
celebration of maleness, valuing strength, power, and competition (Everhart et al., 2001).
“Grounded in ideals of masculinity, sport, more than any other part of the educational
curriculum has been, and continues to be, a gender issue” (Everhart et al., 2001). Conversely,
female sport has been shaped by male values and experiences, suppressing the development of
female values (Everhart et al., 2001). The culture of women’s sports was founded in physical
education philosophy—a philosophy of participation, cooperation, and play.
“The guardians of sports education for males…(who)…feared the development of sports
for girls and women because of what it might mean to their entrenched power and traditions” (as
cited in Everhart et al., 2001). These guardians of sport in the NCAA attempted to limit how
Title IX applied to intercollegiate athletics. They also supported the Tower Amendment to
exclude revenue-producing sports from Title IX (football and men’s basketball). Senator John
Tower introduced the Tower Amendment as an amendment to Title IX in an attempt to remove
athletics from the umbrella of Title IX, and athletic programs would not need to comply with
the equal opportunities required under this protection (Staurowsky, 2016).
The culture of collegiate athletics is still firmly rooted in competition between work and
life. The sports culture is known for long, irregular hours, including nights and weekends,
demanding constant face time, dedicating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work-relate
responsibilities (Mazerolle & Eason, 2016c). This culture does not allow for the traditional
ideal of separate work and personal lives. One is constantly spilling into the other.
Furthermore, the pressure to win and the competitive nature of sports culture can challenge
work-life balance for athletic trainers and the ethical obligation to keep athletes healthy with
the erosion of any form of off-season (Goodman et al., 2010).
Most athletic training departments are housed within the athletics department, with the
head athletic trainer reporting to an athletic director. Often, this administrator came into his role
through the coaching ranks, and they do not have the training or knowledge to understand the
medical decisions that athletic trainers make. This organizational model is antiquated and does
not reflect athletic training's growth and transition as a professional medical field. The push to
move athletic training out of athletics and into the health services department of all institutions is
still in its infancy. It will be met with significant resistance by those in the athletics model.
Goodman, Mazerolle, & Eason (2017) suggest the advantage of athletic training being
housed within athletics can foster relationships and communication between coaches and
athletic trainers. However, disadvantages include conflict of interest in athletes' medical care,
role conflict for athletic trainers, and poor work-life balance. “Collegiate athletic trainers are
often wedged in high-pressure, challenging situations in which their ethical duty to provide
proper medical care is confronted by participation so they can contribute to the programs and
coach’s success” (Goodman et al., 2017). The authors noted that many athletic trainers have
been put in the spotlight or fired due to conflicts with coaches over medical care and return to
play decisions for student-athletes.
Role incongruity is another factor the authors noted in their study. They defined role
incongruity as the degree of expectations for one’s performance in a misaligned role with the
individual’s disposition, attitudes, self-perception, and values. Many participants in their
study believe that aligning their department with other health care professionals would
improve student-athletes’ outcomes and advance the athletic training profession. Goodman
et al. (2017) concluded that the athletic department's expectations, attitudes, and values were
misaligned with the ATs’ self-perceptions, attitudes, and values.
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