Document Type

Article

Abstract

While the scientific field of sport and exercise psychology is clearly advancing, it continues, like many scientific disciplines, to be shaped by persistent and well-documented gender inequities. From composition of research teams and academic outputs, leadership positions, and ultimately career progression (e.g., hitting the academic ‘glass ceiling’), evidence suggests that women are disproportionately disadvantaged. The underrepresentation of women in the field is not simply a matter of fairness; it has far-reaching consequences for science, for women's careers, and for the broader public who benefit from evidence-informed practices. Despite a growing awareness of these issues, there remains a lack of clarity on how those in the field can best support women and address these inequities. The ambition of this commentary is to highlight: (1) the impacts of gender inequity and barriers women face in the field and academia more broadly; (2) how current evaluation systems (bibliometrics, leader boards) perpetuate inequity; and (3) existing initiatives in the field to address gender inequity and provide recommendations for change in the field of sport and exercise psychology - many of which offer relevance to other academic areas.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103084

Rights

© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

APA Citation

Teychenne, M., Baker, T., McKeon, G., Darroch, F., Deslandes, A., Daley, A. J., Woman, A., & Rebar, A. (2026). From glass cliffs to glass ceilings: What can we do to support women working in the academic field of sport and exercise psychology? Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 84.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103084

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