There is a significant sexual safety problem for women working in elite sport in the UK, according to a survey, with 88% of respondents reporting they had been the target of at least one form of sexual misconduct in the past five years and five people (2%) saying they had been raped in work-related contexts outside the main workplace in that period.
The report published on Wednesday, titled Women’s Experiences of Sexual Misconduct Working in UK Elite Sport, invited members of the Women’s Sport Collective to take part in the study anonymously and 260 people responded. Participants included administrators, coaches, current and former athletes, TV producers, lawyers and physios.
The statistics make for grim reading, with 87% saying they had been the target of at least one form of sexual harassment and 40% reporting they had been the target of at least one form of sexual assault. For the study, sexual misconduct was broken into three categories: harassment, assault and rape.
The report found that three of the six reported rapes (one person reported that they had been raped twice) were from those who identified as having a disability. The sample size meant intersectional effects were difficult to track but those who identified as having a disability (19) showed a much higher abuse rate than any other minority group.
“The responses from people living with a disability really jumped out and I felt it needed to be noted and it’s something that needs to be explored further,” said Lindsey Simpson, who carried out the survey.
Simpson, who holds a BA in sport and recreation and an MSc in workplace health and wellbeing, said the report had put numbers behind the anecdotes familiar to women working in elite sport: “Was I surprised by the findings? No, but there is something very powerful about seeing the numbers … We know people don’t tend to report. So this gives an idea of the size and shape of the issue and gets quite specific into what actual behaviours we are talking about.”
The survey included a question on the gender of perpetrators and found that 93% of those who perceived that sexual misconduct had taken place said the perpetrator was always, or in most cases, male.
Simpson said: “There is a widespread understanding that men are disproportionately perpetrators of sexual violence – that’s well documented – but what I didn’t want was someone to be able to go: ‘You didn’t even ask who was doing it. How do you know it’s not women?’ So I was asking to make sure that I’m not making an assumption that is untrue but also because it can be really hard if you are a woman who is experiencing sexual misconduct at the hands of another woman. You need to be believed and we need to evidence that is also a behaviour.”
Only 38% of participants expressed positive sentiments about governing bodies addressing the issues around sexual misconduct in the workplace and only 46% expressed positive sentiments about employers doing so (with 29% of those “absolutely” confident in their employers). The report found 26% of those surveyed had no opinion in relation to these questions.
Simpson hopes women working in elite sport who have experienced sexual misconduct receive validation through the understanding that they are in the majority and that their concerns and vigilance are legitimised.
She pointed to practical implications for employers in the report’s summary, noting that there are criminal acts within the findings and that “if organisations are not meeting requirements in risk assessment and mitigation, as this research suggests many are not, they expose themselves to negative legal, reputational, and commercial consequences”.
She also noted that this level of sexual misconduct may be harming the industry’s ability to attract and retain female talent, “undermining efforts to increase inclusivity and representation, and create more balanced and effective power structures that deliver better organisational outcomes”.
Simpson is keen for the report to prompt organisations to take action and “drive positive change”.