The Influence of Sporting-Segregation on Occupational Segregation in Sport-Based Employment

• In Event: 512 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Gendered Experiences in Sport

Abstract

This research uses 28 in-depth interviews of sport-based employers in the United Kingdom to examine how men’s teamsport participation reproduces men’s advantage in sport-related occupations. It examines the facilitation of sexism by showing that not only does formalized gender segregation in sport provide men vital social networks unattainable to women, but that teamsport competition also provides an illusory image of employment competency. Results illustrate how men’s privilege works both at the moment of social reproduction as well as how formalized, structural patterns of hegemonic gender segregation help reproduce occupational segregation that works against women’s equality.

Authors

• Lauren J. Joseph, Pennsylvania State University-Schuylkill

• Eric Anderson, University of Winchester