Female athletes found to fear 'nothing is going to happen' when speaking out on gender

Kareema Wakim was in her mid-teens when she made her first national senior team for moguls skiing, earning an overseas trip.

"I was so excited to be on that camp. I was over the moon," Wakim told ABC Sport.

But that experience was soon tarnished.

The now 19-year-old said she was sexually harassed by an older male teammate.

"[He was] being inappropriate and making myself feel quite small and not confident in my body," she said.

She tried to push the incident aside but decided to speak out when she returned home.

"I broke down and cried and just felt like I had to tell my coach," she said.

Without going into details, Wakim said she left it up to her coach and parents "to figure out", but she felt the process could have been better.

She was also left with mixed emotions after reporting.

"I kind of felt guilty and I was like, 'Should I have said something?'" she said.

"I feel like, in that moment, I just regretted reporting it. And I don't think that's really how it should be."

Wakim said she had seen improvements in her team and felt more comfortable, but more could be done.

"I think coaches and support staff can help with that. Education really is the biggest thing, and awareness of this, and telling people that it's not OK," she said.

"It might be a joke for some people, but you never know how the person you're saying that to is going to take it and handle it."

Confusion, disillusionment and fear to report

Wakim's experience was shared by other athletes who participated in the ABC's Elite Athletes in Australian Women's Sport survey.

A young elite swimmer said she was emotionally abused and harassed by a male teammate for years.

"There were multiple times I thought he was going to hurt me or worse. He would also get other guys to join in," she wrote.

"I reported it to my coach who claimed he saw everything that went on in the squad and this wasn't happening.

"I naively believed he was looking out for me and had my best interests at heart at first, but later realised he was protecting his favourite athlete and trying to keep me quiet."

Another athlete said she was raped by the head coach of a national team.

"[The sporting organisation] covered it up and he got off with a one-year coaching ban. Through the process I found out it is not the first time he's done it."

La Trobe University, the University of Sydney, and Victoria University recently released the results of a study addressing gender-based violence against women in sport encompassing physical, sexual, or psychological harm.

Associate Professor Kirsty Forsdike from La Trobe Rural Health School said there was currently limited research on the prevalence of the issue, but clear themes emerged from the 27 women and gender-diverse people they interviewed.

"When people did speak up, they didn't know where to go to. The policies were very opaque, very unclear," Dr Forsdike said.

"People might start to do something and then nothing happens, or they get told, 'There's nothing we can do.' Or they get told, 'Don't worry about it. That's just what happens. You just need to get used to it.'"

She said this led to disillusionment and many women leaving sport altogether.

"This is, I think, quite a dire thing that's happening. And sport isn't listening enough to it, or at least not listening enough to do something."

The researchers spoke to athletes, volunteers, and administrators — from grassroots levels to those in elite sport — and many shared similar complaints including not being believed, or being dismissed, losing playing or coaching opportunities, and facing intimidating legal processes.

"We had about 20 people put in a case to the sports organisation. The first time it was ignored. The second time we were told it wasn't in their remit. And the third time it was just, 'It's not our job.'

And I remember thinking, 'Who the f*** has the job of sorting this out for me?'"

– Anonymous participant

"You try explaining to men in a sporting environment that they shouldn't turn the oval lights off until every single female participant has left safely. They don't understand it because they've never feared getting dragged into the bushes and raped at a football oval at 8:30 at night."

– Anonymous participant

"They never followed any of their own written processes around safety and supporting us. They made promises, and then actively went against them. They pretty much gaslit us the whole way.

This person is still technically a coach. And a lot of women know in the space that that's someone you avoid. And it's just insane that this is happening and this is the case."

– Anonymous participant

Lilee Lunee is a national-level rowing cox, a role in which she spends a lot of time with predominantly male coaching staff members.

She said she had witnessed "out of control" sexual harassment.

"I can think of probably five male coaches, easily, that I could name that have made comments of sexual innuendo," she told ABC Sport.

"Or just straight-up said things about the female rowers — who are my peers and my friends and girls I went to school with, and I have been in representative teams with — and [the coaches have] said things about how they look, talking about their body and their physique in ways that are sexualised.

"When I was younger I wouldn't say anything; [I] just sat there very uncomfortable."

The 26-year-old said while she now called some coaches out on the spot, there was a broader reluctance to report the behaviour.

Other respondents to our survey had similar sentiments.

"My sport involves being in swimmers at the beach. With paddling styles being laying down and on your knees.

"When training I would often have sexual comments from other boys in the squad about my body and what they wanted to do to me sexually.

"Even when formal complaints were filed against them the surf club quickly dismissed them."

– Anonymous athlete

"Inappropriate men in coaching positions who have complaints of sexual abuse, inappropriate conduct and intimidation continue to be allowed to keep positions as coaches and progress through into higher positions of authority."

– Anonymous athlete

Care-first approach and cultural change needed

Current reporting systems can vary depending on the sport and organisation.

Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) oversees matters including anti-doping, match-fixing, child safeguarding – which protects young people in sport – and discrimination.

It does not have a specific remit for gender-based violence or safeguarding matters affecting people over the age of 18 and can only conduct investigations and hand down sanctions for sports signed up to the National Integrity Framework.

Director of safeguarding Lisa Purves said despite the limitations SIA could still help.

"Whilst we don't directly deal with the investigation for some matters, we absolutely build the capability of sports and support them in managing it where we can as well," she said.

The La Trobe research has identified several areas where reporting often goes wrong, including policies that prioritise protection of the organisation rather than support for the victim, reporting pathways that follow a legal framework, and responders who lack training and support.

Dr Forsdike said solutions included organisations updating policies and using a trauma-informed approach.

Her research team has also developed a publicly available Safe to Speak, Bound to Act toolkit which is designed for sports leaders to respond to reports of gender-based violence.

"It's a starter — raising the issue, understanding it, what is gender-based violence? What does it look like? And what are the things we can do?" she said.

Ms Purves said that addressing gendered violence was not just about a reactive approach but creating cultural change within sports.

She cites the example of the Box Hill North Football Club where members of the men's team posted offensive photos.

"Even just those small behaviours of accepting that and thinking that's funny, and making light of the fact that a woman was assaulted, they're the types of attitudes that have got to change," she said.

"So it's not just a case of, 'Here's gender-based violence against women and we need to stamp it out.'

"It's the whole culture of sport that needs to change in relation to how it sees women in sport.

"I think there does have to be a bigger conversation around this. And the sports need to lead the way before we can go straight to the enforcement and investigation side of things."

Lunee agreed, and added that more women in leadership positions would also help.

"It needs to be a space where everyone feels that they're respected and that they can trust who they're reporting to, and they feel like they'll be supported if they go forward with an issue or make a complaint or question something," she said.

"As more women feel empowered, or that they're able to speak up and take action themselves, it will just become the norm."

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