Members of the Sport and Exercise team at Staffordshire University, held an event to promote positive female role models, develop a stronger social identity for women, and encourage networking between women who are working and studying in this area. The recently hosted careers event, gave opportunity for our female students, recent graduates and other guest speakers to share their thoughts and experiences regarding the opportunities and barriers that women face in sport. They spoke about: what attracted them to studying sport, and into the job they have currently, as well as the job opportunities/barriers for females who wish to study and work in sport and exercise. Finally, they offered advice to females intending to study and work in a wide variety of sport and exercise professions.

Feedback from the evening reflected how useful the event was and how inspiring personal stories from other women can be and included:

“The speakers were diverse and interesting to listen to.”

“It was good to hear women’s success stories in sport, which gave me confidence.”

“The case study stories of the presenters were very powerful and personal. This meant that the audience could identify with the authenticity of the speakers and relate it to their own situation.”

Everyone involved in the event were extremely grateful to all the speakers who gave up their time to come and share their stories. We hope that by promoting and encouraging our students (past, present and future), to attend these events, we can inspire them to achieve success in their career within sport and exercise.

If you would like to find out more about activities within sport and exercise, please contact:

Jacky Forsyth, j.j.forsyth@staffs.ac.uk
Relevant blog: https://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/drjackyforsyth/2016/07/27/females-working-and-studying-in-sport-and-exercise/

Lynne Duval, l.duval@staffs.ac.uk
Alison Bambridge, a.bambridge@staffs.ac.uk