Women’s voices ‘silenced’
What women experienced within the cycling high performance environment was ‘‘preventable’’, and voices of experts and athletes alike have been ‘‘silenced’’ on the subject of women’s health in sport, leading sociologist Professor Holly Thorpe says.
Thorpe, a member of the WHISPA (women’s health in sport) group and a leading researcher into women’s experiences and culture in sport, said issues relating to women within the high performance sport environment were raised as far back as 2015 and highlighted again in a 2021 survey of elite female athletes.
The survey involving more than 200 athletes found an ‘‘urgent need for strategies to address issues’’ related to women’s health.
It found stress fractures and concussion were common amongst the group, 11% reported being diagnosed with depression and anxiety – which is lower than previously reported statistics, suggesting an under-diagnosis of female athletes – 73% felt unhappy with their bodies, 15% had disordered eating practices and 73% believed sport participation was associated with pressure to have a specific physical appearance.
It also found athletes struggled reporting health issues with their mainly male coaches, doctors and support staff, and most female athletes are likely to experience menstrual symptoms that had the potential to impact their performance. Nearly half had iron deficiencies and one-third reported their menstrual cycle was impacted by training volume.
Many of those experiences were highlighted in the review into cycling and the high performance sport environment, which was established following the death of Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore in August 2021, and released on Monday.
It found ‘‘gender biases’’ within the programme, inadequate provision for basic issues that commonly affect women, including menstrual issues, nutrition, and pregnancy, and found HPSNZ’s position was that female health care ‘‘unrelated to performance needs’’ should be dealt with by athletes’ private GPs. Thorpe said HPSNZ’s stance is a ‘‘red flag’’. She said the findings of the review weren’t surprising, but it’s disappointing it’s taken a ‘‘horrible tragedy’’ to highlight the inequalities women face.
‘‘Women’s voices and women’s knowledge have not been respected and valued,’’ she said.
‘‘It shows there’s not a willingness to engage in the complexities, or intersections of health, wellbeing, performance and gender. If people have been listening, and responding, and willing to lean into the processes of change . . . this could have been preventable.’’
Thorpe said the voices of female scientists, health professionals, and athletes, who have spoken out, called for change and identified problems within the sector and who have been wanting to be part of creating solutions have been silenced and ignored.
‘‘The group of voices in this area has been growing. These are people working in the environment – sports doctors, sports scientists – people with a lot of respect and mana, and still when they are raising concerns they are not being heard.
‘‘It’s not like these conversations haven’t been had,’’
‘‘Women’s voices and women’s knowledge have not been respected and valued.’’
Professor Holly Thorpe
Leading sociologist
Thorpe said. ‘‘It’s not like the opportunities for CNZ and HPSNZ to educate themselves, to be research informed, to hear athletes speaking on these topics and to create change weren’t there. The issue is they were ignoring all of those messages.’’