Women in Coaching
Fix the system, not the women
There currently aren’t enough female coaches anywhere in sport.
It’s up to all of us in sport, and society more widely, to make the systemic and societal changes needed.
Too many women are missing out on the joy of coaching, and sport is missing out on everything female coaches have to offer.
The Story So Far
The research
In January 2026, we shared our research which found…
- Coaching in the UK is a hostile environment for women
- 30% of women coaches report being bullied
- 18% fewer women than men say their opinions are heard and respected
The Response and Impact
- The research has already reached almost 250m people
- We presented the findings at the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry on women in coaching
- We worked with RFU to create an anti-misogyny policy and toolkit – the first major British sport to launch a policy of its kind
- UK Sport, UK Coaching and England Netball have committed to embedding the report’s recommendations into their coaching strategies
What’s Next?
The Women’s Coaching Taskforce are busy working on more materials which will help make sure female coaches are truly valued in sport:
- Data deep-dives: We are using the data from the original report to analyse the challenges facing female coaches in different parts of the sports sector and from different walks of life
- Best practice tools: We’re developing new tools to help the sector address the issues facing female coaches, from best practice guides on maternity, recruitment and selection policies, to an interactive tool to support sports to conduct an honest assessment of where they’re starting from
- Making sure female coaches’ voices are heard: We’re committed to keeping the conversation going across our networks; from social media to Westminster. We’re collating an image library which celebrates female coaches and breaks the stereotype of what makes a great coach
- Anti-misogyny workshops: We have delivered a pilot workshop to senior leaders across the sector and are now ready for roll out
- The long game: we want to see the survey that underpinned our original report become a regular feature to allow us to track progress over the coming years and provide the whole of sport with a recognised source of ongoing information on the state of play for female coaches
To stay up-to-date with our coaching work, please sign up to our newsletter below:
“As an unapologetically female led sport, we want to make sure we’re leading the way when it comes to female coaches. The work Women in Sport has done is critical for system change and we are embedding it into our new coaching plan.” – Michelle Hayden, England Netball
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