October: get back into the kitchen

Army Sport, coded news, ugly tweets and invisible women 2.0

1. Working Well

Sometimes, somehow, sums lead some somewhere

Last week Baz travelled to Aldershot to present at a major Army Sport event as the organisation kickstarts a new and fully-funded female sport initiative.

Baz presented on some core TWHQ health topics to over 80 army sports scholars, and dozens of female athletes representing disciplines such as power lifting, netball, athletics, boxing, cycling and more.

Oh and a funny: we took books to flog but didn’t sell a thing. Why include this disappointing nugget? Because everyone in the room already owned The Female Body Bible – our sales pitch turned into more of an autograph session.

What a moment.

Speaking of wins, here’s another: last week we presented something to some folk at some NGB somewhere at the heart of UK sport … or something. Sorry.

As you can tell, we can’t yet talk about this but it’s huge. We promise to bring detail and definition the moment we’re able. Hang tight and stay close. 

2. The World at Well

Good news and bad news. Get back in the kitchen

It’s almost the story of women’s sport in recent days: progress, breakthroughs … and then a big old reality check. Sigh, let’s do this good and bad style.

The good news: viewership at this summer’s Women’s World Cup hit record highs in what was already a record year for watching women’s sport.

The bad news: best leave the football to the boys, love.

Watch the vid if you can stomach it.

3. Girls are Gold

Cards, kudos and community growth

This might be a first, we’ve literally had thank you cards rain in from students at two Glasgow schools after Sport In Her Shoes travelled, for the first time, into the UK state system.

The very same week, Dr Emma sat alongside Dames Denise Lewis and Katherine Grainger for a panel at Girls Go Gold, a Reading-based event welcoming 550 girls and PE staff from 40 schools.

Some weeks just feel like momentum.

4. Here Comes the Science Bit

Dr Emma on invisible women and academic barriers

A September 2023 paper entitled “Invisible Sportswomen 2.0”—Digging Deeper Into Gender Bias in Sport and Exercise Science Research” is another fascinating / sobering dive into the research gap and why academia continues to leave active women behind. 

In a nutshell, the paper — published by a transatlantic team from Ireland and the USA — explains that while women are trying to drive research forward, they hit barriers and walls due to male dominance in the academic process. 

Invisible Sportswomen 2.0 used author name data (the head of department typically gets the very last writer’s credit) to conclude that female-only sport-science studies were of poorer quality when passed through a male head of department, and of higher quality when under the auspices of a female head. 

I was part of the team that, in 2022, found that the volume of sport-science research conducted exclusively on women had grown marginally from 6% to 8%, but still the quality of much of that 8% is so poor it’s unusable. 

For me, closing the research gap lives in having more women in senior academic positions (a mission in itself) and via allocating resources, time and budget to high quality work. Crucially, that also means granting such work efficient transit into the public domain where it can make a difference.

5. Medical BS

“What exactly is ‘Post-Menopausal Bleeding'”?

Dr Bella says: You’re ‘post- menopausal’ if you’re over 50 and period-free for one year, or over 45 and period-free for over two years.

If such time has elapsed and you suddenly do start to bleed then you must get it checked by your doctor, no matter the blood’s colour or volume.

Roughly 90% of womb cancers present as post-menopausal /  abnormal vaginal bleeding, hence bleeding after your periods have stopped is a huge red flag. HRT may increase the risk of bleeding but your doctor has answers. Get checked.