Citation :

Radha Bahl, "Understanding Safety in Women's Sports: A Study of Female Athletes' Perceptions in Delhi NCR," International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 76-88, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V13I3P107

Abstract

Women's safety in sport is an under-researched but urgent concern, especially in the Indian context, where structural inequities, power imbalances, and institutional deficits are prevalent in the daily lives of women athletes. The current study focused on five key areas of safety for female athletes in the Delhi NCR region, including physical infrastructure and facility safety, peer/team environment safety, staff/coach conduct, travel/commute safety, and perceived reporting mechanisms. The study sought to examine the overall safety perceptions of women athletes in various sports settings, identify areas of vulnerability, and determine which of the structural and interpersonal factors are most important in predicting overall perceptions of safety. The study was conducted on 75 active female athletes from the Delhi NCR region of various sports types, various levels of competition, various training locations, and various age groups. The data gathered was collected by a structured self-administered questionnaire with 39 items in the 5 domains based on purposive sampling with Google Forms. All subscales were found to have high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values varied from .88 to .96). Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression. Results showed that there were statistically significant differences between safety perceptions by sport type, coach gender, and training time. Team sport athletes expressed significantly greater safety perceptions than individual sport athletes in each of the three areas: physical infrastructure, travel, and reporting mechanism. In addition to physical infrastructure, peer environment, and travel safety, staff and coach conduct came out as the strongest predictor of reporting mechanism perception, with 73% of the variance in the regression model. The time of training was significantly correlated with travel safety and commute safety, and coach gender was significantly correlated with staff behavior. These results indicate that safety experienced by women athletes is a multi-dimensional and structurally-conditioned phenomenon. The study adds to evidence-based institutional reform in Indian sport and highlights the need for creating standardised safety protocols, holding coaches accountable, and providing easy reporting mechanisms so that women have the opportunity to run in sport respectfully and without fear.

Keywords

Women's Safety, Perceptions Of Safety, Female Athletes, Travel Safety, Reporting Mechanisms.

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