Naming the harm: women's stories of gender-bsed discrimination and harassment in campus recreation

This study investigates the experiences of women working in campus recreation, revealing how gender-based discrimination and harassment shape their careers, well-being, and sense of belonging in a profession that prides itself on inclusion. While campus recreation is often positioned as a supportive and student-centered environment within higher education, the women in this research tell a more complex story marked by bias, inequity, and institutional silence. Using in-depth qualitative interviews and an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach, this study centers the voices of 17 women as they make meaning of the harm they have endured and the systems that allowed it. Their stories illuminate the emotional labor women carry, the normalization of harassment, and the toll of navigating spaces that were not built with them in mind. Eight interrelated themes emerged across the data: bias, harassment, inequity, exclusion, institutional betrayal, burnout, solidarity, and resistance. These themes offer a clear look at how systemic gender discrimination continues to shape the culture of campus recreation and how women are surviving, resisting, and imagining something better. This study contributes to the literature on gender, workplace equity, and institutional power and offers a call to action for higher education to confront the cultural norms that continue to push women out.