ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, the demand for women-only events has grown exponentially – especially for the sports of running, triathlon, and even CrossFit. Although there is a growing literature on gender differences in sport more generally, there is scant research on women-only events. This chapter explores the current literature on women-only sport as well as an exploratory study involving interviews with seven women-only event directors. Results indicate four main themes in the data: intimidation factor, social community, advocacy, and promotion. Event directors observed that women seek the women-only events due to the intimidation of returning to sport, mixed-gender events, and not being ‘athletic’ or having much knowledge of the sport. The social community manifests itself in a collective atmosphere where women can enjoy socializing and sharing their experiences. The advocacy involved personal advocacy – encouragement/support to achieve and health advocacy – and support of a charity or cause. And finally, promotion involved listening to women’s interests and needs rather than giving in to stereotypical gimmicks to attract women. The findings are discussed further.
