Intersectional Invisibility: Exploring Systemic Barriers and Lived Experiences of Mental Health Access for Female Athletes in Male-Dominated Sports Cultures

Despite growing attention to athlete mental health, female athletes in male-dominated sports face systemic barriers shaped by intersecting identities, institutional neglect, and cultural stigma. This qualitative study employs an intersectional feminist framework and the theory of intersectional invisibility to examine the lived experiences of 24 elite female athletes across rugby, football (soccer), and taekwondo in Ghana, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Through in-depth interviews, findings reveal pervasive silencing, structural neglect, and a paradox of hypervisibility in performance yet institutional invisibility in mental health support. Participants described tokenistic interventions, gendered stigma, and reliance on informal peer networks due to inadequate systemic care. The study underscores the need for intersectional, gender-responsive reforms in sports governance, coaching practices, and mental health policy to address these inequities. By centering marginalized voices, this research advocates for structural and cultural transformation to ensure mental health equity in male-dominated sports environments.