“I DO NOT THINK THE FEDERATION VALUES WOMEN AS MUCH AS MEN": GENDER CONTEXT OF WOMEN’S RUGBY IN TURKEY

The study aims to examine how the gender context is materialized at the national teams and federation level based on the experiences of elite Turkish female rugby players. The ethnographic research method was based on observation diaries and semistructured interviews with 18 elite women rugby players who were invited to the Turkish National Women's 7s Rugby Team. The findings indicated a main theme and two sub-theme as “Conditions that need to be changed” and “Conditions that need to be maintained”. The first sub-theme consisted of obstacles caused by the under-representation and gender issues level, while the second indicates the importance of women staff in women's national teams and respect for private life choices. Playing rugby in Turkey is built on the gender roles determined by the society, reflected in the federations that are the main authority of sports environments. These reflections are reconstructed by the federation and transform into various practices that are reflected again in sports environments.