Written evidence submitted by UK Coaching [BPS0031]

Beyond participation: Routes into sport for girls and women

This submission is provided in response to the Call for Evidence on routes into sport for girls and women. It is confined to the area on which UK Coaching can comment with authority, namely, coaching roles and considers the factors affecting women’s entry to, retention within and progression through the coaching workforce. The submission highlights the continuing influence of male‑dominated, performance‑first cultures, the role of employment and contractual conditions in shaping access and progression, and the need to strengthen safeguarding and welfare arrangements alongside workforce development. It further notes that, while there has been progress in some areas (including governance), improvements have not been consistently reflected in day‑to‑day culture or in women’s representation within coaching.

Who we are:

UK Coaching exists to strengthen the UK’s sport and physical activity system by supporting, developing and protecting coaches, and it does this by providing education, welfare resources, policy influence and a national care framework designed to improve coaches’ wellbeing.

Its core purpose is to create an active nation inspired through great coaching, recognising that coaches are central to helping people become more active, more often, aiming to raise coaching standards and improve experiences for participants at every level.

The organisation also works with government bodies, national governing bodies, employers and deployers of coaches to improve coaching experiences across the pathway, using research to inform policy and highlight the positive impact coaching has on physical and mental wellbeing.

UK Coaching recognises that coaches face significant pressures, mental health challenges, emotional labour, facility access issues, and organisational stressors. Research commissioned shows many coaches experience burnout, stress and a lack of support. (Why coaches stop, UK Coaching 2026)

To address this, UK Coaching provides a range of support:

• Duty to Care Hub & Digital Badge A national hub offering guidance on mental health, wellbeing, safeguarding, diversity, inclusion, physical wellbeing and safe practice. It helps coaches build the knowledge and behaviours needed to care for both participants and themselves.
• Wellbeing and Welfare Resources Tools and learning materials designed to help coaches manage stress, understand welfare responsibilities, and navigate the increasing pressures of modern coaching environments.
• Advocacy for a Care System in Sport UK Coaching campaigns for a sport system that protects everyone equally, emphasising that coaches must be cared for, not just expected to care for others.
• Research on Coaches’ Care Needs By commissioning studies into coaches’ perceptions of care, UK Coaching highlights the need for better support structures and uses evidence to shape future interventions.

In summary UK Coaching plays a pivotal role in the UK sport sector by elevating coaching standards, informing policy, and championing the wellbeing of coaches. Through its Duty to Care framework, research, and extensive learning resources, it ensures coaches are supported, valued and equipped to deliver safe, inclusive and impactful coaching experiences.

1. To what extent are masculine cultures in sports still presenting barriers to girls and women taking up no-playing roles? What is being done to break down these barriers and what more could be done?

Masculine cultures and barriers to women in non‑playing roles

Masculine, performance‑first cultures still shape who is seen as “belonging” in coaching, officiating and leadership. Women in Sport’s evidence to Parliament argues that a core barrier is the persistent idea that sport is a male environment and that girls and women “don’t belong” in it; this underpins structures built around men’s needs, lack of women in leadership, and tolerance of sexist behaviour.

UK Coaching’s latest research shows the proportion of female coaches has fallen from 44% (2022) to 38% (2024), despite growth in professionalisation, clear evidence that women are not progressing at the same rate as men into coaching roles. Women also report that visible female role models and more inclusive environments are critical to their progression.  This is compounded as coaches move through to the performance pathway, as in this part of the pathway only 29% of coaches are female compared to 71% male, illustrating that there are barriers to progression for female coaches. (Coaching in the UK 2024, UK Coaching).  This is further evidenced as only 13% of the Team GB coaches in Paris 24 were female.

What is being done (from a UK coaching/system lens)

• Gender Impact Strategy & Women in Coaching Taskforce: UK Coaching has developed a Gender Impact Strategy and, alongside Women in Sport and Sport England, is part of a Women in Coaching Taskforce to tackle deep‑rooted cultural and structural barriers.

What more could be done (coaching‑focused)

• Tie funding to workforce diversity, not just board diversity: Extend governance requirements so funded bodies must show year‑on‑year progress in women’s representation in coaching, and coach development roles that is beyond quotas, not only at board level.
• Mandatory culture work for coaching systems: Require NGBs and clubs to evidence action on inclusive culture (e.g. anti‑sexism training, clear behaviour standards, psychological safety) as part of coach education and development.  This will increase the base of the coaching pathway, fuelling a pipeline of more female coaches.
• Invest in visible pathways: Fund structured, supportive pathways for women into coaching and leadership in every major sport, with ring‑fenced places and transparent progression criteria.

2. To what extent do gender bias, discrimination and misogyny exist in areas such as coaching, sports science, officiating, administration and governance, and journalism/broadcasting?

(UK Coaching can only comment with authority on coaching)

Gender bias, discrimination and misogyny across roles

.

Research evidence from Why Coaches Stop, UK Coaching 2026, reveals young female coaches in particular reported exclusion, belittling and gatekeeping from older male coaches. Many women also described being overlooked or excluded outright, with misogyny being a persistent theme. They explained feeling isolated, unsupported, or devalued because of their gender, and that they faced “bigger barriers than their male counterparts” and were “not taken as seriously as men.” Some coaches described a deeply entrenched culture of misogyny within their environments, and some explained how persistent sexism and harassment eventually pushed them away from something they loved. A smaller number of coaches, but still significant raised concerns relating to gender and inclusion policies.

“I am a female coach in a male dominated profession. The sexism, bullying and sexual harassment from male coaches has ruined my enjoyment of something

I love to do.” Why coaches stop, UK Coaching 2026

Women in Sport’s Beyond 30% – Workplace Culture in Sport report finds clear evidence of discrimination and negative workplace culture, including an over‑emphasis on “sporting competence” as a measure of value, which disadvantages capable women who may not have the same playing background as men. Women report feeling less included, facing biased recruitment and limited progression opportunities.

Written evidence to Parliament from Women in Sport highlights widespread sexism and misogyny in sport, rooted in stereotypes that women’s sport is of lower value and that girls are not expected to be good at sport. This spills into coaching, sports science, governance and media, where women are often under‑represented, scrutinised more harshly, or pigeon holed into “support” rather than decision‑making roles

Variation by sport

• Male‑dominated, professionalised sports (e.g. football, rugby): Tend to show stronger masculine cultures, more publicised cases of misogyny and abuse, and slower progress in women’s representation in technical and governance roles.
• Some Olympic/individual sports: Often have better female representation in participation and sometimes coaching but still show gaps in high‑performance and leadership roles.

Is enough being done? No. Progress is patchy and often limited to headline numbers (e.g. board quotas) rather than deep culture change. From a coaching perspective, the decline in female coaches despite policy attention is a clear warning sign that current efforts are not sufficient or not reaching the day‑to‑day environments where women work.

3. Is there enough being done to protect girls and women from harm, including harassment, abuse and violence, particularly in coaching, officiating, and journalism/broadcasting?

(UK Coaching can only comment with authority on coaching)

Protection from harm, harassment, abuse and violence

UK Coaching’s safeguarding work emphasises that coaches have a duty to protect participants from harmful practice, understand grooming, exploitation and poor practice, and create psychologically safe environments. Sport England and UK Sport have also strengthened system‑wide safeguarding and welfare commitments following the Whyte Review into abuse in gymnastics, including a Safeguarding Case Management Programme and a national network of welfare officers.

The heart of UK Coaching’s work is the belief that coaches can only care for others if someone is caring for them. Our support goes far beyond training courses, it’s about protecting coaches’ wellbeing, dignity and long‑term sustainability in the sport system.

UK Coaching stands in a coach’s corner. We know coaching can be exhausting, lonely and emotionally heavy, and we refuse to let coaches carry that weight alone. Our whole mission is built on the belief that those who care for others deserve to be cared for too.

We give coaches the tools to protect their wellbeing, the confidence to handle tough moments, and the reassurance that someone is fighting for better conditions on their behalf. Through our Duty to Care, wellbeing support and national advocacy, we make coaches feel seen, valued and supported, not just as deliverers of sport, but as human beings.

Women in Sport, however, argues that recent abuse scandals show a structural and cultural problem, with many allegations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse—often against women and girls—going unreported or not taken seriously. They call for an independent regulator to ensure duty of care and address power imbalances, including coercive relationships between coaches and athletes.

Is enough being done? System reforms are moving in the right direction, but from a UK Coaching perspective there are still gaps:

• Power and dependency: Young women in coaching or athlete roles may rely on male coaches for opportunities, making it harder to report harassment or abuse.
• Inconsistent practice: Safeguarding standards and reporting routes vary widely between sports and levels (grassroots vs elite).
• Psychological safety: Many environments still prioritise performance over welfare, discouraging women from speaking up.

Further steps

• Independent oversight: Support the creation of an independent sports regulator/ombudsman with powers to investigate and sanction across all sports, as advocated by Women in Sport.
• Mandatory trauma‑informed safeguarding training: For all coaches, with specific content on gender‑based violence and harassment.
• Protected reporting channels: Anonymous and independent reporting mechanisms, with clear protections against victimisation, should be a condition of public funding.
• Coach education on power and boundaries: Embed content on position of trust, consent, digital boundaries and bystander intervention in all coaching qualifications.

4. To what extent do employment/contractual issues (for example access to childcare, mentoring, pay and expenses etc) act as barriers to women’s access and progression in non-playing roles? What should sports’ governing bodies or the Government do to tackle these barriers?

Employment and contractual barriers (pay, childcare, mentoring, expenses)

Women in Sport’s workplace culture research highlights that flexible working, childcare responsibilities and lack of inclusive recruitment are major barriers to women’s progression in sport organisations. Coaching research shows increasing professionalisation (more paid roles, more people seeing coaching as a primary occupation), but women are not benefiting equally from this shift. Coaching in the UK 2024, UK Coaching.

From a coaching point of view, key barriers include:

• Unsocial hours and travel: Evening/weekend work and away fixtures clash with caring responsibilities, which still fall disproportionately on women.
• Low or inconsistent pay and expenses: Many roles are casual, poorly paid or volunteer‑based, making them inaccessible to women who cannot afford to subsidise their own involvement.
• Lack of structured mentoring: Women report that mentoring and visible role models are crucial, yet access is uneven.

What should governing bodies and Government do?

• Set minimum employment standards: Link public funding to fair contracts, transparent pay scales, paid travel/expenses and access to parental leave for coaching and officiating roles.
• Fund childcare and flexible delivery models: Pilot childcare support for coaches at major events and encourage job‑sharing or flexible scheduling of sessions.
• Mandate mentoring and sponsorship schemes: Require NGBs to provide structured mentoring for women in coaching and leadership pathways, with accountability for outcomes.

5. To what extent are these additional barriers for some groups of girls and women, for example those from minority racial and ethnic groups and women and girls with disabilities and sensory impairments? What steps should be taken to break down these additional barriers?

Additional barriers for minority groups and disabled women

In 2024 UK Coaching reported the following:

• Only 35% of Ethnically diverse coaches are female
• Only 38% of Coaches with a disability / long term health condition are female

Intersectional barriers are significant. Women in Sport and wider sector work on diversity show that women from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled women and those with sensory impairments face compounded discrimination, racism, ableism and class barriers layered on top of sexism.

From a UK Coaching lens, this shows up as:

• Under‑representation in visible roles: Very few Black, Asian or disabled women in high‑profile coaching, officiating or media positions.
• Access barriers: Transport, inaccessible facilities, lack of adapted coach education, and financial barriers to qualifications.
• Cultural safety: Environments that do not understand or respect cultural, religious or disability‑related needs.

Steps to break down these barriers

• Targeted pathways and bursaries: Ring‑fenced funding for women from minority ethnic groups and disabled women to access coach education, officiating courses and leadership programmes.
• Data and transparency: Require sports bodies to collect and publish intersectional workforce data (gender × ethnicity × disability) and set improvement plans.
• Co‑design with communities: Work with community organisations and disabled people’s organisations to design coaching roles and environments that are genuinely accessible and culturally competent.

6. Should there be more requirements on sports organisations to increase representation of girls and women in non-playing roles up to Board level? If so, what should these requirements be, and how should they be enforced?

Requirements to increase representation up to Board level

UK Coaching has a 50:50 split of male:female members of our board, we have five female and two male members on our Senior Leadership Team, and our staff complement is 35% male and 63% female.

The current Code for Sports Governance and Women in Sport’s Beyond 30% campaign have driven progress towards at least 30% of each gender on boards of publicly funded bodies, but women remain under‑represented in senior leadership and performance director roles.

Should there be more requirements? Yes. From a coaching perspective, leadership diversity directly shapes culture, priorities and resourcing for the coaching workforce.

Possible requirements and enforcement

• Higher and sport‑specific targets: Move beyond a flat 30% to more ambitious, time‑bound targets (e.g. parity over time) and include executive teams, not just boards.
• Link to funding: Make continued public funding conditional on meeting diversity targets and demonstrating credible action plans where targets are not yet met.
• Independent audits: Regular, published audits of board and workforce diversity, workplace culture and pay gaps, with support and sanctions where necessary.

7. Are there good examples of progress towards equal representation of girls and women in these areas of the sport sector? If so, what could be done to disseminate and coordinate best practice across all sports?

Examples of progress and sharing best practice

There are positive signs:

• Board diversity: Many NGBs now meet or exceed 30% women on boards, showing that change is possible when requirements and support are aligned.
• Women in Coaching initiatives: UK Coaching, UK Sport, and Sport England are collaborating on research, mentoring and targeted support for women coaches, including high‑performance pathways.
• Safeguarding reforms: System‑wide commitments following the Whyte Review, and UK Coaching’s Duty to Care resources, are raising the bar on welfare and safeguarding practice.

How to disseminate and coordinate best practice

• Cross‑sport communities of practice: Regular learning networks for HR leads, coach developers and safeguarding leads to share what works and what doesn’t.
• Embed learning into coach education: Turn best practice on inclusion, gender equity and safeguarding into mandatory content in all coaching and officiating qualifications, so it reaches the frontline.

Conclusion

Across the coaching pathway, women’s under-representation is driven less by a lack of interest and more by cultures, structures and conditions that signal they do not belong and that make progression harder. The recent decline in the proportion of female coaches—alongside persistent under-representation in performance environments—suggests that current approaches are not yet changing day-to-day realities in clubs, programmes and high-performance systems.

To deliver sustainable change, governing bodies, funders and Government should pair governance targets with practical requirements that reshape the coaching workforce: transparent and fair employment standards (pay, expenses and parental leave), funded and visible progression routes for women, mandatory work to tackle sexism and build psychologically safe environments, and stronger safeguarding with independent oversight and protected reporting. These steps—combined with better intersectional data and targeted support for ethnically diverse and disabled women—would help ensure that routes into coaching and leadership are genuinely open, safe and achievable for girls and women across sport.

May 2026