On Friday 13th September 2024, the 9th European Athletics Endurance Conference took place at Leeds Beckett University’s Carnegie School of Sport, UK.
This highly anticipated event, part of the European Athletics Coaching Summit Series for 2024, brought together coaches from across Europe and beyond. For the first time, the conference focused specifically on female athletes competing in endurance events on the track, road, and cross country. This landmark moment emphasised the importance of recognising and supporting women in endurance sports, ensuring their specific needs and challenges are addressed.
Vicky Huyton, founder of the Female Coaching Network (FCN), and Professor Leanne Norman, Director of the Centre for Social Justice in Sport & Society at Leeds Beckett University, hosted a collaborative workshop titled Achieving Gender Equity in High-Performance Athletics Coaching. It aimed to provide coaches with a platform to discuss the barriers faced by female elite coaches in track and field. This session was grounded in the 2021 research paper co-authored by Huyton and Norman, which examined gender equity within high-performance athletics coaching.
The workshop focused on three main barriers preventing the progression of female coaches in the high-performance system: poor selection practices for international team staff, the lack of female personal coaches, and unequal, sometimes unsafe, working environments. By highlighting the experiences of female coaches and athletes, the session invited participants to reflect on their own roles and the gender dynamics within their coaching environments.
Additionally, the workshop addressed progress made since the UK Athletics Gender Equity in Coaching Action Plan. Notable achievements include increased representation of female coaches in GB & NI teams at major events, and the introduction of gender equity as a regular agenda item at UK Athletics Board meetings. The number of athletes coached by women has also grown, signalling a shift toward greater inclusivity.
Both Vicky Huyton and Professor Leanne Norman emphasized the need for continued efforts to create environments where female coaches can thrive. They urged attendees to consider how they could influence positive change in their own coaching roles and how to challenge systems that perpetuate gender inequality.
This workshop was a crucial step in advancing the conversation around gender equity in athletics coaching, furthering the FCN’s mission to support and elevate female coaches globally
To find out more about our work in Track & Field in the UK: CLICK HERE
To find out more about our work in Track and Field and about our project Track & Field: Reform CLICK HERE