| In 1995, Gill examined women's place in the history and development of the field of sport psychology and noted the contributions of numerous notable women from physical education, psychology and motor learning. However, no research to date has explored women's experiences working in the field of sport psychology. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of professional women's experiences working in the field of sport psychology. More specifically, I qualitatively explored women's entrance into the field, any obstacles or barriers confronted throughout their career advancement, their alignment within feminism and feminist theory, and their future aspirations and goals as female professionals in the field of sport psychology. This study used a semi-structured interview guide format (Patton, 1990). Eight "professional" women working in the field of sport psychology were interviewed. Interviews lasted approximately 90 minutes. All of the co-participants were Caucasian, ranged in age from 39 to 52 years of age, had an average of 16 years as a "professional" and were employed in sport science academic programs. A thematic analysis of the data produced themes in the categories of: (a) entrance into the field of sport psychology, (b) the context of sport psychology, (c) women's status in sport psychology, (d) the feminist sport psychologist, and (e) supporting women in sport psychology. Each theme was discussed separately. Differences between co-participants were also noted regarding the extent to which various themes did or did not affect their experiences as well as the unique and individual approaches each used to contend with them. |
