The Intersection of Professional Identity and Gender Representation of Kinesiology in Ontario: A Feminist Qualitative Study

The College of Kinesiologists of Ontario (CKO) oversees professional Kinesiology and its scope of practice. The CKO mandates what is required by and expected of a Professional Kinesiologist (PK) and enjoys full authority from the provincial government regarding the management of Kinesiology. This qualitative study is an in-depth media analysis of the CKO website (https://www.coko.ca/). Employing a critical feminist theoretical lens, I am interested in: how Professional Kinesiology and a PK are represented to the public at large by the CKO?; and if and how the representation(s) of Professional Kinesiology and a PK are gendered and gendering? The data suggests a codependent relationship between Kinesiology and PKs in Ontario that works to enforce and reinforce the legitimization and gendered/gendering aspects of the representation of the profession and professionhood. Furthermore, the gendered/gendering aspects of the representation of Professional Kinesiology and PKs demonstrated an enmeshed sex-gender binary relationship.