Gendered Consequences of COVID-19 Among Professional Tennis Players

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the risk of travelling, working, and participating in public events. To test whether there were gendered differences in the response to COVID-19, we examine the behavior of male and female professional tennis players. We use data from major tennis tournaments which included a rather large number of athletes withdrawing from play. After controlling for past performance, wealth, and other relevant player attributes, we find that female tennis players were more likely to withdraw. This suggests that high-earning women may have greater risk aversion, especially related to COVID-19, than their male counterparts. Importantly, women were more risk-averse when it comes to international travel.

Effects of COVID-19 on Visitor Intentions to Attend Personal Interpretation Programs in the Provincial Parks of Alberta, Canada

“…One reason for higher female participation before the pandemic is that females have stronger educational motivations for visiting a park (and therefore, attending an interpretive program) than men (Hvenegaard, 2017). Conversely, during the pandemic, it is possible that risk aversion tendencies among females extends from general activities (Maxfield et al, 2010; Weber et al, 2002) to sporting and outdoor recreation activities (Cary & Stephens, 2023; Randler et al, 2020). Among other demographic variables, intentions to participate were greater for respondents with more education than with less education, and for respondents with larger household income than smaller household income.…”