Researcher Dorottya Molnár presents two studies on women's sports at the ENYSSP congress in Budapest

The research shows that the perception of women's sports as secondary persists despite advancements in professionalization

The European Network for Young Specialists in Sport Psychology (ENYSSP) congress, held in Budapest from June 4th to 6th, hosted the presentation of two research lines regarding women's sports developed by the Department of Basic, Developmental and Educational Psychology and the Sport Research Institute (IRE-UAB). The studies were jointly conducted with the participation of Dorottya Molnár, PhD researcher at the Grup d'Estudis de Psicologia de l'Esport (GEPE), Marta Borrueco, postdoctoral researcher at GEPE, and Miquel Torregrossa and Yago Ramis, both professors and principal investigators at GEPE. Researcher Dorottya Molnár was solely in charge of delivering the presentations of these scientific papers, which aimed to unravel the structural dynamics shaping these environments.

The first paper, presented as a poster, consisted of a historical and systematic review of scientific literature regarding the evolution of coaching in women's sports from 1974 to the present. The analysis identified three historical phases ranging from an initial paradox of opportunities to the current view of women's sports as a reality that is never a priority, sharing the experience of being a secondary option. It is worth noting that these findings are preliminary and form part of an ongoing study.

The second study, presented as an oral communication, focused on defining the objectives of a doctoral thesis through a narrative approach and an expert panel consisting of male and female coaches alongside researchers. The research involved conducting interviews with male and female coaches from different sports and, following the narrative analysis of these initial six interviews, four main narratives were identified: a continuous imbalance where women's sports are perceived as secondary to men's and where women feel they are treated differently, a lack of trust in women as head coaches, and concerns regarding the credibility of the visibility granted. The findings indicate that the prioritization of men (both coaches and athletes) persists regardless of the nature of the sport, whether traditionally female, male, or neutral.