Professional sports are widely recognized as one of the most popular activities in society, embodying a significant “social character” (Dilnoza 2023) and fostering health, social cohesion, and community building (Dunning 2004; Baldwin 2010; Aagergaard 2018). These attributes highlight the potential of sports to serve as a platform for collective identity and social interaction. However, as Hall (1985) argued, it is crucial to discuss sports in relation to patriarchy and capitalism to fully understand their social and symbolic significance. This perspective reveals how power dynamics shape the experiences and representations within the sporting world. Feminist theories have made substantial contributions to the academic discourse surrounding the gendered ideologies of sports, which lead to the construction of dominant masculinity while marginalizing individuals with gender identities that deviate from these norms (Birrell 2000; Messner 2010). The implications of these gender hierarchies are profound, as they permeate various aspects of sports culture, including issues such as gender-based violence (Lang et al. 2023), which continues to plague the sporting community and reflects broader societal issues. From the Global South perspective Carrington et al. (2023) emphasize the importance of cultural contexts in shaping gender norms and how these norms influence participation and representation in sports. Understanding local cultural contexts provides insights into the unique challenges faced by female athletes and LGBTQ individuals in these regions. Knoppers et al. (2024) or Burton and Keaton (2024) investigate disparities in access to sports facilities funding and training opportunities for women and marginalized groups examining how economic factors and infrastructural challenges affect participation rates and performance.
Sports have been viewed as gendered spaces for the last decades (Cahn 1990; Pfister 2010; Jones et al. 2017), and this gendering has been analyzed from multiple perspectives. An intersectional approach (Messner 2010; Carrington 2010; Ratna et al. 2017) has illuminated how race, class, and sexuality intersect with gender to create complex layers of discrimination and privilege within sports contexts. Additionally, the media’s role in shaping perceptions of gender in sports has been extensively studied (Crawford 2022; Cooky 2021; Kane 1996), revealing how media representations can reinforce or challenge existing gender norms. From an organizational perspective, the dynamics within sports institutions have also been scrutinized (Knoppers et al. 2008; Burton 2014; Gaston et al. 2020; Hanappi-Egger 2024). These studies highlight how organizational structures and policies can perpetuate gender inequalities or, conversely, promote inclusivity and equity (Bekker et al. 2023, Knoppers et al. 2024, Burton and Keaton 2024).
The special issue of the Journal Gender, Work and Organizations on Gender and Professional Sports seeks to explore the complex and dynamic intersections of gender with organizations of sports, a field that remains a powerful site for the negotiation of identities, power relations, and social norms. This issue invites submissions that critically engage with the ways in which gender shapes experiences, opportunities, and representations in professional sports organizations, as well as the (gendered) organizational and institutional structures that govern sports practices.
Key themes for this special issue include but are not limited to:
- Gendered Labor and Career Trajectories in Professional Sports: In what ways are career paths, working conditions, and opportunities in professional sports shaped by gender, and how do these dynamics intersect with broader organizational and societal structures?
- Organizational Dynamics and Gender: How do sports organizations reproduce or challenge gender norms? What are the implications of gendered leadership, policies, and practices within sports institutions?
- Economic and Organizational Power Structures in Sports: How do economic and organizational power relations in professional sports reproduce or challenge gendered hierarchies, and what implications do they have for inclusion, leadership, and equity within sport institutions?
- Intersectionality in Sports: How do race, class, sexuality, disability, and other social categories intersect with gender to shape experiences and inequalities in sports?
- Gendered Experiences in Sports: How do gender identities influence participation, performance, and recognition in various sports? What are the lived experiences of athletes, coaches, and administrators across the gender spectrum?
- Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion: How are trans and non-binary athletes navigating sports spaces? What challenges and opportunities exist for inclusive practices?
- Media Representations and Gender: How are athletes and sports events gendered in media coverage? What impact do these representations have on public perceptions and gender norms?
- Policy and Governance: What are the effects of policies related to gender equity, inclusion, and diversity in sports at local, national, and international levels?
- International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives: How can international and interdisciplinary collaborations advance research on gender and sports, fostering more inclusive, diverse, and globally informed understandings of work and organization in sporting contexts?
Guest Editors
- Dr. Roman Gibel (Lead)
University of Zürich
Switzerland - Prof. Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger
Vienna University of Business and Economics
Austria - Dr. Anett Hermann
Vienna University of Business and Economics
Austria - Prof. Georgios Tsourvakas
National and Kapodistrian University Athens
Greece - Dr. Natasha Winkler-Titus
Stellenbosch Business School
South Africa
- Dr. Roman Gibel (Lead)
Submission Guidelines/Instructions
Submissions to this special issue should aim to advance theoretical and empirical knowledge, employing diverse methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches. We particularly welcome submissions that connect the study of gender and sports to broader debates in work, organization, and management studies, thereby expanding GWO’s scope to new empirical fields. This special issue aspires to foster a deeper understanding of how gender operates within professional sports and to inspire transformative change towards greater equity and inclusion in sports organizations and beyond.
Submission and Review Process
To be considered for this special issue, submissions must fit with the aim and scope of Gender, Work and Organizations.
Please refer to the Author Guidelines before submission. Please select the ‘Original Article’ as the article type on submission. On the Additional Information page during submission, select ‘Yes, this is for a Special Issue’ and the Special Issue title from the dropdown list, Gender and Professional Sports: Intersectional Perspectives’.
For questions about the submission system please contact the Editorial Office at gwooffice@wiley.com.
All submissions will be double-blind peer-reviewed by multiple reviewers.
Please contact guest editors if you have any enquiries regarding this special issue: edeltraud.hanappi-egger@wu.ac.at; roman.gibel@business.uzh.ch; anett.hermann@wu.ac.at; gtsourvakas@ba.uoa.gr; natashawt@sun.ac.za
Special Issue timeline
Special issue title: “Gender and Professional Sports: Intersectional Perspectives” is based on the following timeline:
• Publication of Call: April 2026
• Paper Preparatory Workshop (online): End of May 2026
• Open for Submissions: 1st of August 2026 – 1st of February 2027
Accepted articles will be published online as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting for the entire issue to be completed.
The final, complete publication of the special issue is anticipated in February 2028.
A paper preparatory workshop (online) is planned for end of May 2026, in which the editors will present the SI. Attending the workshops will not have a bearing on the editorial process and is not a prerequisite for publication in the special issue.
Submit now
References
Agergaard, S. (2018). Rethinking sports and integration: Developing a transnational perspective on migrants and descendants in sports. Routledge.
Baldwin, R. (2010). Football and climate change: strange bedfellows or a means of going beyond the usual suspects in encouraging pro-environmental behavioural change? Local Environment 15:9-10, 851-866.
Bekker, S., Storr, R., Patel, S., & Mitra, P. (2023). Gender inclusive sport: a paradigm shift for research, policy, and practice. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 15(1), 177–185
Burton, L. J. (2014) Underrepresentation of women in sport leadership: A review of research. Sport Management Review, 18(2), 155–165
Burton, L., & Keaton, A. C. (2024). Managing gendered sport organizations. In Research handbook on gender and diversity in sport management (pp. 94-109). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cahn, S.K. (1990) Coming on strong: Gender and sexuality in women’s sport, 1900-1960.(Volumes I and II). University of Minnesota. Carrington, B. (2010) Race, sport and politics: The sporting black diaspora. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Carrington, K., Rodgers, J., Sozzo, M., & Puyol, M. V. (2023). Re-theorizing the progress of women in policing: An alternative perspective from the Global South. Theoretical Criminology, 27(2), 283-304.
Cooky, C. et al. (2021) “One and done: The long eclipse of women’s televised sports, 1989–2019.” Communication & Sport 9.3: 347-371.
Crawford, M. (2022) Speaking Up and Speaking Out: Collective Voice in Women’s Sports Media. Communication & Sport, 11(4), 688-705.
Dilnoza, Y. (2023). Sports, culture and society. American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research, 3(11), 152-163.
Dunning, E. (2004). Sociology of sport in the balance: Critical reflections on some recent and more enduring trends. Sport in Society, 7(1), 1-24.
Gaston, L., Blundell, M. and Fletcher, T. (2020) Gender Diversity in Sport Leadership: A Review of United States of America National Governing Bodies of Sport. Managing Sport and Leisure 25(6): 402-417.
Hall, M. A. (1985). How should we theorize sport in a capitalist patriarchy? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 20(1–2), 109–113.
Hanappi-Egger, E. (2024) Passion and Profit: The Dynamics of Soccer Fandom and Management. Springer. Jones B.A., Arcelus J., Bouman W.P., Haycraft E. (2017) Sport and Transgender People: A Systematic Review of the Literature Relating to Sport Participation and Competitive Sport Policies. Sports Medicine 47(4): 701-716.
Kane, M J. (1996). Media Coverage of the Post Title IX Female Athlete: A Feminist Analysis of Sport, Gender, and Power. Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 3: 95–127. Knoppers, A.,
Anthonissen, A. (2008) Gendered Managerial Discourses in Sport Organizations: Multiplicity and Complexity. Sex Roles 58: 93–103. Knoppers, A., van Doodewaard, C., & Spaaij, R. (2024). (Un) Doing Gender Inequalities in Sport Organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 1(aop), 1-9.
Lang, M., et al. “Gender-based violence in sport: prevalence and problems.” European Journal for Sport and Society 20.1 (2023): 57-78.
Messner, M. A.(2010) Out of play: Critical essays on gender and sport. State University of New York Press, 2010.
Pfister, G. (2010) Women in Sport – Gender Relations and Future Perspectives. Sport in Society 13 (2): 234–48. Ratna, A., & Samie, S.F. (Eds.) (2017). Race, Gender and Sport: The Politics of Ethnic ‘Other’ Girls and Women (1st ed.). Routledge.
