The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport
Issues and Debates
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- Description
- Contents
- About
As women’s sport continues to grow and develop there is an increasing need to critically examine the conditions in which women as athletes operate. The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport discusses the processes of professionalisation in women’s sports as distinct from, and different to, that seen in men’s sport, identifying different challenges that face the growth of women’s elite sport.
Within this collection, the complex and often fragmented nature of women’s involvement across a range of sports are critically discussed. Contributions span the fields of sport sociology, sport history, sport economics and beyond, and across the varying geographical contexts of North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Examining American football, basketball, cricket, cycling, golf, ice hockey, tennis, rugby union and rugby league, scholars consider the emergence of professionalisation, the role of the media, and experiences in and of women’s (semi-)professional sport.
The Professionalisation of Women’s Sport is an essential reference point for any student, researcher or professional interested in, or working in, elite women’s sport settings.
Chapter 1. Introduction: Issues and debates in the professionalisation of women’s sport; Ali Bowes and Alex Culvin
- Section A: The Emergence of (Semi-)Professionalisation
- Chapter 2. Grand slams: Tennis at the forefront of professionalised women’s sport; Robert J. Lake
- Chapter 3. From “taking a while to settle” to becoming the Imbokodo: Women’s rugby union in South Africa during the post-apartheid and professional era, 2001–2020; Hendrik Snyders
- Chapter 4. Gender differences in the pay of professional basketball players; Nola Agha and David Berri
- Chapter 5. A successful failure? Troubling the road to the NWHL and professional women’s ice hockey; Stacey Leavitt and Carly Adams
- Section B: The Impact of Mediatisation
- Chapter 6. Mixed messages: Examining the early marketing of the WNBA; Adam Rugg
- Chapter 7. Sexism and racism in women’s professional golf: The 2019 US Women’s Open; Robbie Matz and Ali Bowes
- Chapter 8. “Getting noticed, respected, and supported”: Mediated (in)visibilities of women’s American football in the United States; Dunja Antunovic, Katie Taylor, Macauley Watt, and Andrew D. Linden
- Chapter 9. #ThisMama: The professional athlete, pregnancy and motherhood – the case of Serena Williams; Hannah Thompson-Radford and Michael Skey
- Chapter 10. Freedom for expression or a space of oppression? Social media and the female @thlete; Jaquelyn Osborne, Emma Kavanagh, and Chelsea Litchfield
- Section C: Experiences in and of (semi-)professional women’s sport
- Chapter 11. Riding in a man’s world: Gendered struggles in professional women’s road cycling; Suzanne Schrijnder, Fiona McLachlan, and Brent McDonald
- Chapter 12. Growing expectations: Comparing NRLW athlete experiences; Hunter Fujak, Tracy Taylor, Clare Hanlon, and Donna O’Connor
- Chapter 13. Walking the walk: Gender-bland sexism, the fan experience and perceptions of value in professional women’s cricket; Keith D. Parry, Jessica Richards, Jo Batey, and Aila Khan
- Chapter 14. The gendered effects of Covid-19 on elite women’s sport; Beth G. Clarkson, Ali Bowes, Lucy Lomax, and Jessica Piasecki
- Chapter 15. Conclusion: Where next when researching women’s professional sport?; Ali Bowes and Alex Culvin
Ali Bowes is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Nottingham Trent University. Ali is interested in socio-cultural, qualitative explorations of women in elite/professional sport settings. After gaining her PhD from Loughborough University, she has published research related to elite women’s sport.
Alex Culvin is an Academic in Sport Business at the University of Salford Business School. Alex's research interests lie in elite sport, business management, policy, work and gender. She is currently co-editing two books on professional women's sport and professional women's football respectively. Alex is the Chair of the of the Football Collective, a global network of football scholars. Alex completed her PhD in 2019, in the first study to examine professional football as work for women in England. As a former professional footballer, Alex had unique access to professional footballers and maintains considerable networks within professional sport. Alongside this, Alex has had her work published in the Telegraph Sport, BBC Sport and the Athletic.