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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1909-3326
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Management
Year Degree Awarded
2023
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
E. Nicole Melton
Subject Categories
Sports Management
Abstract
Women’s sport has recently seen historic growth across the United States as new leagues launched and existing leagues reached new heights. Despite notable wins, sport remains a male-dominated institution and women’s sport does not always receive the respect it deserves. Indeed, evidence suggests women’s sport is devalued, enduring a unique stigma. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore the impact of stigma on fans of and employees working in women’s sport. I do this through three studies. In Study 1, I use reflexive autobiography to begin to develop a theoretical understanding of women’s sport fans’ experiences with stigma and empowerment. I document vignettes from a decade of fandom, focusing on my experiences with the Phoenix Mercury. In doing so, I identify how I observed structural stigma and experienced enacted, felt, and internalized stigma, as well as how my fandom facilitated a sense of optimal distinctiveness. Study 2 builds on the understanding of stigma in women’s sport to explore employees’ experiences working in an occupation that may be considered ‘socially dirty.’ Using a case study methodology, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 employees in women’s sport. I find that women’s sport employees observe structural stigma and personally experience enacted, felt, and internalized stigma. I subsequently identify strategies women’s sport employees use to navigate this work-based stigma, finding they utilize a necessity shield, as well as engage in and with meaningfulness, job crafting, and social weighting. Study 3 builds on the earlier studies to examine the labor of being a women’s sport fan. This labor is in part a function of women’s sport operating outside the broader cultural consciousness—a form of stigma to which these fans are well attuned. Thus, I conducted a multi-wave field study of sport fans to understand the influence of structural stigma on fan emotions and behaviors. I find that fans of women’s sport engage in loyal boosterism, a process mediated by perceptions of structural stigma and subsequent experiences with stigma-related stress. Collectively, these studies help further develop an understanding of the unique theoretical context of women’s sport, given the stigma with which it contends.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/34704581
Recommended Citation
Isard, Risa, "Women’s Professional Sport and Stigma" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations. 2820.
https://doi.org/10.7275/34704581
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2820
Creative Commons License
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