Gender/sex in studies of school athletic club activities:

A critical review

Abstract

　The purpose of this study was to identify issues related to the treatment of sex/gender in studies on the effectiveness of athletic club activities, conducted by comparing individuals belonging and not belonging to athletic clubs, through a critical review of gender and sexuality perspective.
　The materials for this review, “studies on the effectiveness of athletic club activities”, were collected according to Imashuku et al. (2019). The present study was conducted with reference to previous work that had pointed out existing problems related to gender perspective. In addition, to clarify the perspective of this study, transition of the gender concept was summarized, along with a discussion of sexual diversity.
　The gender of the respondents in 149 articles was collected. Among them, 12 articles did not report the gender of the respondents (8.1%), 12 articles reported all-female samples (8.1%), 25 articles reported all-male samples (16.8%), 91 articles reported both female and male samples (61.1%), and 9 articles included “neither,” “blank,” or “no-answer” in addition to female and male samples in the analyses (6.0%).
　An asymmetric nature between the all-male samples and all-female samples was evident. Articles with all female samples stated the reasons for setting the participants, unlike those with all male participants. In articles that included both female and male participants in the analysis, it became clear that there were problems with analytical methods that ignored gender differences or assumed sex differences. In addition, there were problems with interpretation that left gender differences unaddressed or considered them in terms of sex-related traits. The present study also reviewed how sexual diversity can be masked due to research design, exclusion of “no-answer,” and non-consideration of minorities. Finally, using one article as the object to be considered, a concrete example of the significance of introducing a gender perspective was included.
　Through this review, it is argued that there is a need to re-examine “studies on the effectiveness of athletic club activities” from a gender perspective, and also for social construction of gender and sexual diversity in research design, analysis and discussion.