New research from Women in Sport and Leeds Beckett University, based on a survey of 2,000 coaches and senior leaders, reveals systemic inequalities in UK coaching. Women are far more likely than men to experience bullying, harassment and insecure work, especially as they progress into higher-performance roles.
Key insights:
- Bullying is twice as common for women: 30% of women coaches report bullying compared with 15% of men. Women also experience higher harassment (21% vs 12%) and aggression or violence (22% vs 19%), most often from other coaches or from parents challenging their authority.
- Risk increases at senior levels: Bullying rises from 26% at grassroots to 46% in high-performance roles for women, while men report lower levels across all stages (10% to 24%), suggesting authority brings greater exposure to harm for women.
- Women face poorer job security and support: Men are almost twice as likely to hold permanent full-time roles. Only 12% of women receive regular feedback, and 18% fewer women than men feel their views are heard and respected.
- Safeguarding systems lack trust: Despite 95% of organisations claiming ‘zero tolerance’, women are more likely to avoid perpetrators than report incidents, indicating low confidence in current processes.
The data points to structural problems within coaching that risk pushing women out of the system. Women in Sport is calling for reforms including anti-misogyny policies, transparent pay and progression routes, gender-balanced leadership and trusted reporting mechanisms to create safer, fairer environments across sport.