A review of: Roper, E., 2002. Women Working in the Applied Domain: Examining the Gender Bias in Applied Sport Psychology. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 53-66 .gif) The field of applied sport psychology is a growth area with more athletes, coaches and teams choosing to work with sport psychology consultants in an effort to improve performance. However, despite a substantial growth in the number of consultants, applied sport psychology consists primarily of white, middle-class males.
Roper argues that female sport psychologists do exist, with nearly half of the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology's (AAASP) members in 2000 being female, although this is not necessarily reflected by the number of certified female consultants actually doing applied work.
It is the athletes, coaches and organizations seeking the use of sport psychology consultants who determine the number of female consultants in employment. Since sport is a field which has long been dominated by men, both as athletes and in positions of power, the stereotypical views of females held by some men are a barrier to practising female consultants. In 1991, Yambor and Connelly specifically identified the issue of confidentiality, it was found that some individuals perceive this to be a problem when working with a female consultant. Also identified as an issue was the boundary between a professional and personal relationship, with the possibility of attraction and flirting between athlete and consultant. However it is not just the attitudes of males which influence this, in 1999 Murtland found that female athletes prefered working with male coaches due to their perceived greater knowledge and understanding of sport, so could the same be true of sport psychology consultants?
It is necessary to highlight that there are currently very successful female consults working in the applied domain. Such as Colleen Hacker who worked with the 1999 Womens World Cup winning USA soccer team, however these positions are often less visible and therefore, rarely receive the recognition that there work deserves.
Roper concludes that women must possess an awareness of the stereotypes associated with female consultants and challenge them through presentations, writings and action. Sport is often considered the "last male frontier", simply waiting for this to change is not the answer, it needs to be worked at.
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