More than "just a driver": A study of professional women racecar drivers' agency in motorsport. (January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kochanek, Jill; Davis, Megan; Erickson, Karl; Ferguson, David
• Is Part Of: Psychology of sport and exercise. Volume 52(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-01
• Subjects: Agency -- Gender equity in motorsport -- Women racecar drivers -- Cultural praxis; Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Exercise -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; Sports -- Periodicals; Exercise -- Periodicals; Societies, Medical -- Periodicals; Psychology; Sports; Exercise; Societies, Medical; Sports -- Aspect psychologique -- Périodiques; Exercice -- Aspect psychologique -- Périodiques; 613.71019
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101838
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1469-0292

Abstract

Abstract: Objectives: Motorsport is among the largest sports nationally and globally (Ross, Ridinger, & Cuneen, 2009), and racecar driving constitutes a leading motorsport (Pflugfelder, 2009). Missing, however, is empirical work that captures professional female racecar drivers' agentic experiences (Pflugfelder, 2009). In that racecar driving is one of few sports in which women compete alongside men, insight into how women drivers navigate this performance arena can offer a unique perspective on contemporary gender dynamics. Design: Qualitative study design informed by a cultural praxis agenda consisted of semi-structured interviews with 8 current or former professional female racecar drivers. Method: This study adopted an abductive (inductive and deductive) approach (Sparks & Smith, 2014). Inductive analysis allowed researchers to capture women's diverse agentic experiences. Deductive analysis using cultural praxis and gender (poststructural) perspectives offered a more nuanced understanding of women's agentic experiences and their potential (dis)empowering effects. Results: Results highlights four key themes: (1) entry into racecar driving: family and fatherly influence; (2) marginalizing beliefs, behaviors, and industry barriers; (3) navigating the space: negotiating gender and its (dis)empowering effects; and (4) promoting girls and women in autoracing. Results reveal various dimensions of sexism and sportswomen's agentic experiences. Conclusion: Researchers can heed women drivers' call for knowledge translation efforts that attend to their unique needs and strengths, and disseminate empirical findings in accessible ways. Future research that takes up a cultural praxis agenda is vital to contest constraining gender binaries and deficit-based discourses about women athletes for the promotion of gender equity in motorsport. Highlights: Women racecar drivers experienced overt and covert manifestations of sexism including marginalizing beliefs/behaviors and institutional barriers in autoracing. Women racecar drivers navigated their marginalization in ways that had simultaneously empowering and disempowering psychosocial effects. Women racecar drivers offered practical suggestions for individual (for girls/women and parents) and institutional (for sport industry, sponsors, and science researchers) changes to improve gender equity in motorsport. Researchers and industry leaders in motorsport need to attend to women's unique strengths and needs in order to make a more robust commit to promoting gender equity.