Paper short abstract:

Women student-athletes have long invested in the university club sport system to enhance personal development, social status, and career opportunity. This paper examines female student-athlete’s perceptions of life skill acquisition through sport and women's social roles in contemporary Japan.

Paper long abstract:

Studies on the school club sport system in Japan have often centred on male experiences and by default, anchored female engagement to conservative gender ideologies. Sport is a gendered institution in Japan and discourses on women’s sporting experiences are frequently subjected to assumptions that overlook diverse realities and societal developments. Like men, women student-athletes have long invested in the university club sport system to enhance personal development, social status, and career opportunity. We can therefore consider that university club sport plays an influential role in shaping women’s identities and life outcomes.

University sport club pedagogies can prepare women for the double burden of lowly paid employment and unpaid domestic labour, which is a social role norm for women in contemporary Japan. Previous studies posit women are required to choose between careers and family, with many opting out of career pathways due to male dominance in workplaces and the institutional barriers that discriminate against working mothers.

Informed by empirical field work and a focused survey (n=240) conducted at a sport university in Japan 2022, this paper examines female student-athlete’s life skill acquisition through sport and their perceptions on women’s options and life trajectories. The data revealed that the aspirations that manifest through women’s sporting experiences and perceptions of their social worlds are manifold and also reflective of the shifts occurring in societal consciousness. Although gender ideologies and working conditions remain unfavourable towards women, this paper highlights that student-athletes in contemporary Japan can desire balancing both career and family life and many of the life skills learnt through university club sport are workplace and leadership oriented. Utilising female-athlete’s perceptions, this paper argues that women’s capabilities, perceptions, and aspirations are often discordant with the social systems that continue to stymie women’s progress.