Athletic Trainer Gender Inequality in Academia Gender

Athletic Trainer Gender Inequality in Academia Gender Inequality There appears to be evidence for gender inequality in the profession of academic athletic trainers (ATs). For example, membership in the National Athletic Trainer's Association is 48% female, but at the collegiate level only 1/3 of ATs are women (Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, and Roberts, 2010, p. 459). To understand the reasons behind this discrepancy the authors of a recent study performed a large survey of female ATs working in or outside of academia (Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, and Roberts, 2010).

The working hypothesis was the following: family obligations contribute to a gender bias in academia for athletic trainers. Methods Of the 1000 surveys sent out to working female ATs, only 405 responses were useable for the purposes of the study (Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, and Roberts, 2010, p. 160). Of these, 67.3% worked in an academic setting and 40% were parents of children less than 16 years of age. The mean age of respondents was 33.7 years.

Results and Conclusions A more objective measure of the parenting impact on an AT career is whether the birth of children caused changes in employment. When the respondents were queried on this topic, 42% and 65% reported changing job settings or working hours, respectively, after their children were born (Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, and Roberts, 2010, p. 461). Becoming a parent therefore has a significant impact on AT careers for women. In terms of career satisfaction 41% were happy being both a parent and AT, and 50% wished they spent more time at home.

Only 13% expressed a desire to become a full-time parent, which suggests the demands placed on parent/ATs isn't sufficient to force women to quit their career. The desire to someday have children was expressed by 69% of the non-parent respondents and the primary reason for the delay was financial stability. Unexpectedly, non-parent respondents were almost evenly divided about whether becoming a parent would affect their career and suggests that some respondents are somewhat naive concerning the demands that parenthood will place on their career obligations.

Parent and non-parent respondents were evenly divided about whether career and family obligations could be met simultaneously, yet many mentioned that energy levels might not be sufficient for both. Although 25% reported that family obligations would tend to suffer most, only 3% suggested work obligations would suffer. To help alleviate the stress of balancing a career and family, 47% believed that support was essential. The survey had a second phase that involved completing essay questions that were designed to elicit more nuanced answers (Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, and Roberts, 2010, p. 461).

The main themes these essay questions revealed was that balancing both career and family obligations was frequently difficult, as was negotiating perceived gender inequalities. Summary The use of a survey to determine if family obligations contribute to a gender bias in academic athletics can't provide an objective answer, but it did reveal that.