Mental Wellbeing Risk in Elite Women's Football: A Cultural and Gendered Problem?

Women’s football is growing exponentially, especially within England, but culturally, much remains unchanged. Women athletes in traditionally ‘male’ sports, like football, experience gendered difficulties to a greater extent than other sportswomen which can have a toll on their mental health. This study was the first to take a cultural perspective on mental wellbeing risk in elite female footballers; exploring experiences of GD, the effects on mental wellbeing, and perceptions of how to achieve cultural change. An explanatory sequential, mixed-methods design with 66 participants from the top three tiers of women’s football completing a survey measuring perceived discrimination and mental wellbeing. Of these, eight footballers (18-35 years) completed a semi-structured interview. The transcripts from the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The survey found significant negative correlations between past year perceived discrimination and the WEMWBS measure of mental wellbeing [r(66)=-0.245, p=0.05)], and between age and past year perceived discrimination [r(66)=-0.269, p=0.03)]. The survey also found a significant effect of lifetime perceived discrimination on poor mental health [F(2,64)=7.183, p = 0.00). The semi-structured interviews addressed three topics. Experiences of GD were coded into 4 main themes: Second-Class Citizenship, Use of Sexist Language, Sexual Objectification and Restrictive Gender Roles, and Assumption of Female Inferiority. Players made the link between GD and mental wellbeing, suggesting 4 themes: Mental Health, Psychological Support, Coping Mechanisms, and Gratitude. When asked about the probability of change within sport, 5 themes emerged: Infrastructural Support, Financial Support, Public Opinion, Attendance, and Media Coverage. The findings highlighted both competing discourses of growth but constraint, progress but inequality. The discriminatory experiences were linked to numerous deleterious effects for the footballers’ mental wellbeing, affecting them as players but also as people. Participants displayed unhealthy coping mechanisms such as passive acceptance, denial and gratitude, in turn limiting their capacity to challenge GD.