Researching women in sport development: an intersectional approach

Abstract

Despite an increase in published research investigating the development of sport for women and girls, to date there have been no attempts to review scholarly contributions rigorously and critically in this area. To address this issue, we first conducted an integrative review of research literature to portray an overarching and holistic picture of the field. Our comprehensive literature analysis following five-step process, provide evidence of the status quo of current research foci, authorship, theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and key research findings. Through this initial review, our study identified a distinct lack of intersectional representation of women and girls in the literature. As such, our focus shifted to a critical analysis and discussion of the intersectional works in the body of literature, calling to action for more thoughtful engagement with research participants, contexts, and foci. We conclude our study by providing new perspectives on key issues in research focused on developing sport for women and girls, and by outlining current research and theoretical gaps that provide the basis for future scholarly enquiry.