Women and the Whistle: A Research Program on Women Sport Officials

David J. Hancock

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Introduction

Sport doesn’t exist without officials—the referees, umpires, judges, scorekeepers, and timekeepers tasked with upholding the integrity of competition. Especially in team sports, the role of the official has largely been occupied by men (up to 90% in some sports). As an ice hockey referee of 25+ years, I’ve seen this firsthand. It’s the reason I gave an unreserved “Yes!” when a graduate student first approached me about studying women officials. To date, in my lab (Sport Psychology and Officiating Research Team; SPORT), we have completed or started seven projects on women sport officials. Collectively, the results can inform future research and organizational practices that increase the number of women officials.

Admittedly, I feel like a bit of an outsider here—a tall, white male, writing about women officials’ experiences. I have a lot to learn and will never truly know what it’s like to be a woman official. Nevertheless, I hope that what I share in this blog inspires more people (researchers and practitioners) to get involved with women officiating. To goal herein is to (a) briefly describe some of my research on women officials and (b) outline some calls to action.

Recruitment and Retention

The first step to increasing women officials is targeted recruiting. Surveying 495 women officials, our biggest findings was that simply promoting officiating to women (e.g., adolescent athletes, university students, and parents of youth sport athletes) was deemed the most effective way to increase the number of women officials (1). Step two is retaining women officials. Sampling 186 participants, we found that when women officials’ psychological needs (i.e., felt connected to others, able to perform their tasks, and possessed control over their outcomes) were met, they were more likely to be retained (2).

Women Officials’ Experiences

Two studies from the SPORT lab have explored women officials’ experiences: one through semi-structured interviews (3) and one through an autoethnography (Andrews et al., in preparation). General findings outline a unique and challenging environment:

• Women officials’ physical appearance is criticized more harshly than men’s

• Women officials are constantly vying for athletes’ and coaches’ respect and belief that they can occupy the role

• When receiving verbal abuse, women officials often experience low perceptions of psychological safety

• Within officiating, there are not enough women in mentorship or leadership positions

• Systematic sexism and discrimination still exist

• Social support from other women officials is imperative to navigate negative experiences

• Women must work harder than their male counterparts to earn advancement opportunities

• Some advancement opportunities (e.g., officiating camps) feel tokenistic, as they are selected simply because they are women

Ongoing (and Exciting) Work

There are other exciting projects ongoing in the SPORT lab. One study interviewed pregnant and postpartum women officials to learn of their experiences. Not surprisingly, maternity and return-to-officiating policies were generally lacking, making it difficult to manage officiating and motherhood. Another study has explored women officials’ body image perceptions. Here, we’ve seen that body image is generally neutral or slightly negative, though for older officials, there is more body image positivity. Lastly, a new project is underway to study ice hockey referees’ eye movements during decision scenarios—part of the analysis will compare differences in eye movements based on gender.

Conclusion

There is a significant lack of research attention directed at women sport officials. Our work in the SPORT lab is endeavoring to reduce this gap. Collectively, our results paint a bleak picture of the women officials’ landscape: lack of recruiting, frequent negative experiences, and no policies to support pregnant women are just a few of the low-lights of our research. However, our findings have been shared with select sport organizations, and future work can investigate whether this leads to meaningful change for women officials.

Calls to Action 

That begs the question, now what? As mentioned earlier, I hope this inspires (a) sport researchers to investigate women officials and (b) sport practitioners to reflect on policies that support women officials. Worthwhile future research ideas include:

• Intervention studies to assess the efficacy of women-specific recruitment strategies

• Exploring the “women aren’t capable of officiating” culture that exists within many sports

• Investigating marginalized sub-groups within women officials (e.g., different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations)

• Understanding the positive impact of women officiating mentors on new women officials

Meanwhile, steps for practitioners and organizations are:

• Review (or create) policies that support inclusion of women officials

  • e.g., Dressing room, maternity, and sexism/discrimination policies

• Educate officials, coaches, and athletes on gender-based sexism and discrimination

• Actively recruit potential women officials

• Develop mentorship programs for women officials

Following these steps would certainly have a positive influence on current and future women sport officials. If you have any questions about the work coming from the SPORT lab, feel free to connect (dhancock@mun.ca).

Blog editor: Dr Tess Flood

Blog admin: Dr Jacky Forsyth