Kelly Dao, Braeden McKenzie, Kaleigh Pennock

The coverage of women’s sports through traditional media sources has increased over the last 15 years, both related to specific game-by-game analysis and in examining broader issues facing women athletes. This focus has included an emphasis on understanding how women’s experiences of sport-related concussions (SRCs)—an issue of great prominence throughout all levels of sport—may be particularly challenging and unique. Importantly, as media coverage has increased, the way in which the issue of SRCs within women’s sport is framed has evolved significantly. The proposed presentation explores this evolution by examining two distinct periods of media coverage concerning SRCs in women’s sport. Data for the study was collected from the same six major national Canadian media sources and analyzed at two different time periods: Period 1 (2010-2018) was collected in 2018, and Period 2 (2019-2025) was collected in 2025. Both sets of data were analyzed using discourse analysis with a particular emphasis on understanding how women athletes are perceived and how their gender is taken up relative to injury, performance, and identity. Comparing media coverage across the two distinct time periods provides important insight into contextual shifts in sport, concussion, and gender in Canada. Importantly, this work identifies ongoing and emerging issues concerning how women athletes are portrayed in the media and provides a critical look at how media representation may influence attitudes and behaviours concerning gender and concussion.