Percepción de discriminación en jugadoras de un equipo de fútbol profesional del cantón Cuenca

Abstract

Historically football has been conceived as a mostly male sport, however, in recent years the incursion of women in this discipline has been increasing. In this context, the players may face certain conflicts and questions on the part of society that denote the existence of discrimination. As Borja (2016) points out, discrimination in sport can cause demotivation, attrition, effects on self-esteem, among other factors. Therefore, this cross-sectional exploratory study with a qualitative approach aims to describe the perception of discrimination that professional soccer players have. The study participants were 9, with ages over 18, who resided in the city of Cuenca and have been summoned to the national championship matches. A sociodemographic record was used as instruments for the collection of information to characterize the study group and a semi-structured interview in order to know their discriminatory experiences. The results were contrasted with the theory and it was obtained that the discrimination that the players perceived by relatives and fans has diminished markedly in comparison to previous years. However, they consider discriminatory the treatment they receive from the institutions and people who run the sport. At the same time, it is concluded that the decrease in discrimination by the aforementioned groups is largely due to the media support that participants have received. On the other hand, the perception of the support they receive evidences the gender inequality that still exists in this sports context. Finally, it is recommended that multidisciplinary studies on this subject be carried out in our context for the implementation of future actions that are aimed at equity in sport.