July 15, 2024

UOW researcher helping change the game for elite female athletes

Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee part of global research team working with International Olympic Committee

Playing sport at an elite level is not without complications and challenges for many women.

In addition to issues such as sexism, online abuse, and lack of equity in pay, female-specific issues such as pregnancy, breast-feeding and breast health create additional challenges to the performance and professional careers of our top female athletes.

Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee, from the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Breast Research Australia, is part of a global team of experts working to create more equity in sport and enable female athletes to succeed in their sporting careers and their personal lives.

“When it comes to having a family as a professional athlete, there is no gender equity in elite sport,” Associate Professor McGhee said.

“The choice to become a parent or not often coincides with female athletes hitting the peak of their professional athletic career. In contrast to male professional athletes, choosing to get pregnant and have a family is more likely to affect a female athlete’s career through both time-out of competition during pregnancy and the challenge to return to the same level of competition and ranking of sport postpartum [after giving birth]. This is why most professional female athletes wait until they retire to have a family.

“Delaying pregnancy, however, can create additional challenges with fertility and pregnancy complications, potentially resulting in female athletes sacrificing their long-term personal life for their athletic career. These are choices and challenges not experienced by male professional athletes. There needs to be more opportunity for top female athletes to be able to have children and stay in the game. Not lose their sport that they’ve worked so hard for.”

It is well past time for sporting institutions to invest – in terms of funding, research, opportunity, sponsorship, respect, and support – in women’s sport and to recognise the unique challenges and barriers faced by elite athletes. Deloitte predicts that women’s elite sports will generate a global revenue of US$1.28 billion in 2024 and the success of and public goodwill towards the Matildas in last year’s World Cup demonstrates that progress is underway.

A renowned researcher into breast health in sport, Associate Professor McGhee was chosen to advise the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on gender equity in sport. Her work, alongside 15 other international experts, will contribute to the development of new guidelines that will help female athletes to straddle the worlds of pregnancy and elite sport.

The aim, Associate Professor McGhee said, is for the guidelines to filter down from the IOC to all levels of sport, changing the way sporting organisations approach and work with all female athletes, particularly those at the top of their game.

The group of experts have been working together regularly and will hand down their new guidelines next year during a visit to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Associate Professor McGhee’s area of expertise will encompass breast health during pregnancy and supporting athletes in the postpartum period.

“I’ve worked with elite female athletes from across sporting codes, and they are consistently unaware of the importance of breast health and ensuring their breasts at all stages of their lifespan, including before, during, and after pregnancy.”

The guidelines, however, will examine the many different challenges that women face, such as pelvic floor health, breast health, the psychological changes that come with pregnancy and postpartum, and maintaining rankings while taking time out for parenthood. 

Associate Professor McGhee said the guidelines were a chance to make a global change to the experiences of female athlete and start to break down the barriers to gender equity.

“Every researcher brings a different skillset. It is a wholistic look at every aspect of being a pregnant and postpartum elite female athlete, based on the best peer-reviewed research in the field.

“It is a chance to change the conversations around women in sport. To ensure they have the support they need, physically, psychologically, financially, and don’t have to make those hard choices between career and parenthood.”

Associate Professor McGhee said having the opportunity to contribute to the IOC, one of four Australian researchers to do so, was an incredible experience.

“I am in awe of the people I am working with. I feel passionate about working towards this change, and about raising the profile of breast-related issues in the sporting world. Sport is still not equal but hopefully these guidelines will start to change that.”