Sexism and bullying keeping women out of careers in sport, MPs told

Women are being shut out of careers in sport by entrenched sexism, discrimination and workplace bullying, MPs have been told.

Female coaches are routinely overlooked, undermined and denied opportunities despite their qualifications, experts told a parliamentary select committee on Thursday.

“These hostile environments are hideous for women trying to build a career in sports. It’s so bad that it’s unfair to put women in those environments,” said Lisa West, head of policy at Women in Sport.

The consequences extend far beyond individual careers, experts told the women and equalities committee’s first evidence session of its new inquiry, Beyond Participation: Routes into Sport for Girls and Women.

“A coaching system that sidelines women risks depriving athletes of role models, narrowing the talent pool and reinforcing the message that, even in a rapidly changing sporting landscape, the most influential positions remain a male preserve,” said Lisa Williams, the head coach of London All Stars women’s basketball team.

The committee heard that one in five female coaches reported experiencing harassment or bullying, reflecting deep-rooted biases that continue to shape who is trusted, promoted and listened to across sport.

The experts spoke of the daily sexism experienced by female coaches at the hands of anyone from parents to male colleagues. “And it’s not getting better,” said Williams. “Despite women having a very low confidence in reporting incidents – because there are no policies and no sanctions – we’ve seen an increase in reports from women about bad experiences.”

Highly qualified women are still being passed over in favour of less-experienced men, the panel heard. Hannah Dingley, girls’ head of academy at Manchester City Football Club, described her own experience of being channelled into junior roles.

Emma Hayes, former manager of Chelsea Women, said: ‘The realities are that male privilege has always been at the centre of football in this country.’ Photograph: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

“I’ve found myself only offered jobs teaching the under-9s, despite being more qualified than many of the male coaches hired for the older age groups,” she said. “The assumption was that I was too maternal, empathetic and soft to work at the top level of elite sport.”

Despite a growth in women’s sport, women account for only about a quarter of coaching positions in UK Sport-funded programmes, with even fewer in technical leadership roles.

Emily Handyside, coaching lead at UK Coaching, and Amy Fazackerley, national partnership manager at Coach Core foundation, highlighted the scale of the problem.

“The number of women in coaching declined by 10% between 2022 and 2024 in grassroots sports – and 6% at the elite level,” said Handyside. “We’re seeing the biggest declines among women aged 18 to 34.”

A UK-wide survey by UK Coaching and Women in Sport recently found that harassment, bullying and discrimination remain key reasons women leave coaching altogether, with many reporting they do not feel safe or supported in male-dominated environments.

India Perris-Redding, women’s talent ID manager at Sale Sharks Women, pointed to unpublished research commissioned by Premiership Women’s Rugby and the Rugby Football Union, which found 76% of female coaches believe there is a gender performance gap in high-performance rugby. She said: “We don’t have a female head coach on any team, nor internationally for England.”

Emma Hayes, the former manager of Chelsea Women from 2012 to 2024, has been among the most outspoken elite coaches on the culture women face in football. “The realities are that male privilege has always been at the centre of football in this country,” she said in 2023, adding that women across the sport are “routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny and bullying”.

Sarina Wiegman, manager of the England women’s national team, has spoken about structural imbalance in football: “I think in every sector females are in higher positions, so that’s a little bit strange [that it isn’t in football]. Hopefully that will change quickly,” she has said. “We need more women in football, so you have to do extra things.”

Tracey Neville, a former England head coach, has also said women “are still pushing for recognition and respect for what we do”.