About this Research Topic

Background

Elite sports continue to set men and women apart yet sports is one of the most powerful
platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls. We believe
science can help bridge this gap.

Long-standing biases and gender stereotypes have discouraged women from pursuing a
career in Sports, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research.
Gender Equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a
progressive society. However, Women in Sports and Science are often underrepresented
and unacknowledged. On the path to defeating stereotypes, women athletes are
outperforming their counterparts and making their own place in professional sports. To
support them in being the elite performers, researchers are working towards answering some of the most important questions on understanding women physiology in sports.

Females perform many different types of sports for fitness, pleasure or as professional
athletes. In sports, weather conditions, high altitude, heat, humidity, and internal aspects
such as nutrition, body temperature, breathing, sweat and motion are important for the
performance.

In many aspects, the training, adaptation and rehabilitation of females is different from men.
There is a gender gap in knowledge and studies. Recently new technologies such as mobile
sensors, data analysis, psychological measures and imaging were developed and provide
insight in all the areas of sport science. Here, we like to enhance the evidence about females
in sports, especially in training, recovery and competition, and to see how female athletes
might achieve the performance at par with male athletes, which could occur in ultra-
endurance events.

The Women in Sports: 2022 Research Topic offers a platform to showcase women’s impact
in the field, together with their resilience to grow and support their achievements. This
Research Topic aims to highlight the work on women physiology which supports the
understanding, training, adaptation and rehabilitation of Women in sports and in the field of
Exercise Physiology. Submissions covering any area of Women Physiology are welcome
and those covering the following themes are encouraged: hormonal status (female cycle,
contraception and pregnancy); energy management (RED-S, nutritional supplements and
prohibited substances); gastrointestinal and urinary disorders and injuries; empowerment and
psychological status; environmental factors (humidity, heat, cold, altitude,…)

This Research Topic is part of the Women in Physiology series. Other titles in this series are:
• Women in Metabolic Physiology: 2022
• Women in Developmental Physiology: 2022
• Women in Avian Physiology: 2022
• Women in Exercise Physiology: 2021
• Women in Gastrointestinal Sciences: 2021
• Women in Integrative Physiology: 2021
• Women in Clinical and Translational Physiology: 2021
• Women in Invertebrate Physiology: 2021

For more information on the description and formats of the different article types please see here. Please submit your article to the Research Topic that best suits the focus of your research.

As per Frontier’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) Publishers Compact, we use our platform to help inform, develop, and inspire action that aligns with the 17 UN SDGs. This topic supports SDG 5 Gender Equality.

Keywords: female cycle, RED-S, empowerment, cold, contraception, injuries, performance, rehabilitation, winter sports

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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