Gender Equity in Athletic Training

The demands of the athletic training profession are unique, but concerns of women members of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) are similar to those of women in other male-dominated occupations. Although the NATA membership is roughly equal in terms of gender (46% of the NATA membership are women), men are predominantly found in supervisory positions (59%), compared with 37% of women in other leadership roles. 1 Subordinate groups are often excluded from positions of power or leadership. In corporate America, 95–97% of senior managers are men, 2 and in academic medicine, gender bias is more frequently reported by female faculty (77%) than by male faculty (30%). 3 Gender-biased behaviors, policies, or actions that adversely affect work by leading to disparate treatment or creation of an intimidating environment are gender discrimination. 3 Our objective is to identify gender-biased issues in the athletic training workforce using the mutedgroup theory and to describe strategies for success for women who choose athletic training as a career.