“They cannot seem to get past the gender issue”: Experiences of young female athletic trainers in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics

Within Division I intercollegiate athletics, women hold 46.4% of graduate assistant and 47% of assistant athletic trainer positions, yet hold only 18.8% of head athletic trainer positions. The purpose of this study was to explore whether issues of power and gender stereotyping contribute to the lack of women in head athletic training positions in intercollegiate athletics. Data were gathered from 14 female athletic trainers at Division I universities through semi-structured interviews and follow-up questions based on those interviews and were analyzed using post-structural feminism as the theoretical framework. The findings revealed that male coaches used gender stereotypes to challenge the professional competence of our participants along with formal and informal work practices to reinforce power over the professional lives of our participants.

► We evaluated the experiences of young, female athletic trainers in Division I intercollegiate athletics.
► We used post-structural feminism to examine the organizational practices of Division I athletic training.
► Our participants experiences indicate that Division I athletic training programs operates as gendered organizations.
► Gender stereotyping and power were used to constrain female athletic trainers working within Division I intercollegiate athletics.