Interpersonal gendered violence against adult women participating in sport: a scoping review

Rationale: Sport is increasingly seen as a vehicle through which to address and prevent the high prevalence of violence against women, yet it is also a site for interpersonal gender-based violence. This paper scopes recent empirical research to examine the focus of research into interpersonal gender-based violence against adult women in sport and what sports organisations are doing to respond and prevent such violence. The paper then sets out potential areas for future sport management research. Design: Following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, we conducted a comprehensive search of published literature since 2000 across 14 databases. Findings: We identified 15 papers. Findings are presented as a numerical summary and thematic analysis. The numerical summary reveals a lack of studies examining sport organisations’ responses to interpersonal gender-based violence against adult women participating in sport. The thematic analysis shows dominance of sexual violence often within the coach–athlete relationship, a focus on prevalence, and lack of theoretical underpinning. Practical implications: If sport is to continue being used as a vehicle to prevent violence against women in society more broadly, future research must address all forms of interpersonal gender-based violence against women that may be occurring in sport and examine how sport organisations are addressing such violence. Research contribution: This paper shows a significant gap in research on adult women experiencing interpersonal gender-based violence in sport, and responses to such violence. It provides a foundation from which to drive future research.