The innovation, flexibility and kindness of Kiwi women has come to the fore, Dr Holly Thorpe has found, in her project to understand how women working in sport and fitness have been impacted by Covid.
The Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women. Around the world and in Aotearoa New Zealand, women have carried much of the unpaid labour required to care for their families and broader communities, often while simultaneously managing paid employment (many on reduced hours or salaries).
Women have also experienced the majority of pandemic job losses. In these conditions, women’s physical and mental health has been heavily impacted for both frontline workers and in the home.
For many, sport and fitness - particularly online fitness offerings - have been hugely important in helping women get through difficult times.
During the early stages of the pandemic, I began a project (initially with Dr Allison Jeffrey and Dr Nida Ahmad, and later joined by Professor Simone Fullagar and Dr Adele Pavlidis) to understand how women sport and fitness professionals were being impacted by Covid-19.
Through this project, we learned that, despite many personal and professional challenges, these women were responding with creativity, care and innovation - all in an effort to support their communities during times of uncertainty and disruption.
A sector hit hard
The international sport and fitness industries are among those significantly impacted by the pandemic. For example, a loss of 300,000 jobs in the sport and fitness sector was predicted in the United Kingdom.
Similarly, in the United States, 17 percent of gyms and fitness centres closed permanently, and 44 percent of the fitness industry workforce lost their jobs.
Of particular note, the effect of the pandemic on the sport and fitness industry has been highly gendered.
Emerging research shows the devastating effects of Covid-19 on professional women’s sport, particularly during the early stages of the pandemic. Similarly, many women working in the sport and fitness sector (coaches, managers, instructors, personal trainers, studio owners) lost their jobs, left the industry, or ‘pivoted’ to offer their services via digital technologies.
While international research is revealing the impacts of the pandemic on women athletes, very little attention has been given to how other women working in the sport and fitness industry responded to the rapidly changing financial, social and emotional environment of sport in the pandemic.
Recognising this gap, we wanted to hear the stories from New Zealand women working in the sport and fitness sector. We conducted interviews with 17 women working in the Aotearoa New Zealand sport and fitness sector about their experiences during the various stages of strict social restrictions throughout 2020.
We were amazed to hear of their creative efforts to care for others - their sport and fitness communities - during this difficult time. We use pseudonyms in this article to protect the identities of our participants.
Leading with care and compassion
During the early stages of the pandemic, the women sport and fitness professionals were dealing with many personal and professional concerns. Like many, they worried about their careers, their families, and their own health and wellbeing.
But they also became concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the health and wellbeing of their athletes, colleagues and clients. Joan, a running coach, become “really concerned”, recognising many in her community were “battling with mental health issues.” Similarly, Jolene, a personal trainer and studio owner recalled, “As time went on, I became less fearful for myself and my own business, but more worried about my clients, about how they were all going to cope with lockdown ... I was mostly concerned for other people, those that had kids, and had a 9-to-5 job to do”.
Many of the women we spoke to had been exploring a range of strategies to respond to the challenges their communities were facing during the pandemic (ie loneliness, increased stress, financial and mental health concerns).
‘This has been a big life-saving thing to have these practices’ - Winifred, yoga studio owner.
For the women, digital technologies offered opportunities to connect with their athletes, colleagues and clients during a time of considerable disruption and uncertainty. Before the pandemic, few were offering online fitness or coaching classes, but the first New Zealand lockdown prompted them to quickly transition to providing services through various digital platforms.
Of the 17 women in our study, 13 pivoted to offering online classes (mostly free-of-charge or for koha). The women described experiencing some technological challenges, with an initial period of rapid self-teaching and upskilling to set up the online classes.
Some, particularly those with young children in the home, discussed the challenges of managing these new online environments alongside their caring responsibilities. For example, Naomi, an owner of a personal training business, explained: “Training clients online really gave me that sense of purpose and obviously at the same time I was trying to juggle being a mother and trying to juggle being a school teacher and then housework… yeah it was hard”.
While juggling personal and professional demands was difficult, we learned that the turn to online offerings was underpinned by an ‘ethic of care’ for their clients, friends and community members.
The women offered online sport and fitness sessions as an act of care - to support the physical and mental health and wellbeing - of their communities.
“I offered free online boxing classes because we need to keep people active,” says Teresa, a boxing coach and gym manager. “One, for their mental health because this was something affecting everybody, but it was more about keeping that kind of consistency and habit going and having that one thing they could still do that makes it feel a little bit normal”.
Some of the women went to great lengths to support the wellbeing of their community by not only offering free online physical activity sessions (ie yoga, Pilates, boxing, running, CrossFit), but also creating spaces for caring and supportive conversations.
Covid-19 recovery investment strategies aimed at supporting athletes, staff and sports organisations during and beyond the pandemic should be “gender-responsive”
One yoga teacher told us that “expressing things publicly [in online classes] felt like it was a way to give other people permission to do the same. Rather than have to just ‘soldier on’ and ‘button up’ and ‘everything is going to be okay’. Just being okay with acknowledging that this is unchartered territory and it is a bit scary”.
Similarly, a running coach described her efforts to ensure the online workouts were a “more fun, social thing rather than a hard out work out”.
Dedicating the first 15 minutes as a space for “everyone to have a chat… saying hello to people and their pets,” she explained these opportunities for connection “really helped us get though it”. Interestingly, new understandings and appreciation of community emerged through these digital interactions.
Some of the women explicitly acknowledged their virtual interactions with clients and colleagues as much more important than just the movement experiences they were offering. It was the care, the connection and the familiarity that seemed to help others during difficult times.
As Winifred, a yoga studio owner, said: “There was something about the voice of familiarity and people seeing the same people that they knew, and I really think that was soothing. A number of people said ‘this has been a big life-saving thing to have these practices’.”
For the women in our study, sharing (digital) sport and fitness practices was the enactment of care for their communities. An acknowledgment that others were struggling, and an effort to support others using the skills and resources they had.
Rethinking business models
Interestingly, many women described how sharing free online classes during various lockdowns prompted them to reflect on their values and approaches to working in the sport and fitness sector.
Some described how these experiences made them adjust their business models. Aurora, a yoga studio owner, recalled that “offering free classes online” during the first lockdown “felt really good”. So when it came time to promote memberships, “we decided to try something a little different. We offered three pricings for the one membership and just said ‘choose what is right for you.’ It just seemed to bring out the good in people”.
Others also described rethinking their price range, and giving people more options to continue their own participation during times of economic difficulty, or to support others unable to afford to continue, due to financial strain and insecurity.
The enduring efforts by women to support their communities in these ways ultimately take a significant emotional toll.
Importantly, for the women in our study, such renewed business models were prompted by the new understandings of community that emerged during and through the pandemic.
The examples of the women sport and fitness professionals in our study highlight the capacity for movement communities and business models to change within a matter of days, with some exploring new practices to support others through crisis.
For some women, these new ethical modes of responding to the world around them prompted new approaches of working in the sport and fitness sector, towards compassion, care, connection and inclusivity.
Gendered recovery
Our research illustrates the gendered impact of Covid-19 on women’s sporting and fitness lives and livelihoods. Arguably, Covid-19 recovery investment strategies aimed at supporting athletes, staff and sports organisations during and beyond the pandemic should be “gender-responsive” - in that they acknowledge the gendered impacts of the pandemic on women working in the sport and fitness industry.
Such policy initiatives would also do well to create space for the stories from diverse groups of women. Without doing so, sports organisations risk overlooking invaluable creative strategies devised by women to support their communities during the pandemic.
Without gender-responsive policies, support structures and investment strategies, there is also a very grave risk of losing many highly talented, passionate and experienced women from the sport and fitness sector.
The enduring efforts by women to support their communities in these ways ultimately take a significant emotional toll.
The effects of the pandemic are ongoing. Many small sport and fitness studios and businesses have struggled through various lockdowns and stages of the pandemic.
Sadly, some have had to close their doors due to economic strain or community fragmentation during times of uncertainty, stress and health concerns.
Many others, however, continue to innovate, to respond to the rapidly changing social, cultural and economic environment.
There’s much we can learn from those women sport and fitness professionals who have been demonstrating innovation, flexibility and creativity throughout the pandemic to ensure they can continue to provide meaningful movement experiences for their communities.
While we might not hear these stories enough, women working in the sport and fitness sector have demonstrated remarkable care and compassion in supporting our communities during pandemic times.
Through Covid-19, many have come to recognise their contributions are much more than simply improving health, fitness and performance, but also for social (re)connection and belonging, and individual and collective wellbeing.
