ArticleFrontiers in sports and active living2026
Women's participation in the Paralympic Games (1960-2024): a longitudinal and bibliometric analysis of global trends and scientific production.
Article in Frontiers in sports and active living, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Women's participation in the Paralympic Games has expanded over time, yet this growth has been non-linear and uneven across regions, disciplines, and editions. At the same time, scientific research on women in Paralympic and parasports contexts remains limited and geographically concentrated. Studies that provide a comprehensive, long-term, sex-disaggregated reconstruction of participation across both Summer and Winter editions, together with an examination of its relationship to the geography of scientific production, are scarce. Methods: This study reconstructs sex-disaggregated participation in the Summer Paralympic Games (1960-2024) and Winter Paralympic Games (1976-2022) using official data provided by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), harmonized with National Paralympic Committee data. Longitudinal trends and cross-national patterns are examined through descriptive and comparative analyses. Exploratory non-parametric analyses were used to assess longitudinal trends and macro-regional differences in demographic-normalized participation. As a complementary component, a systematic search of the Web of Science Core Collection (completed 31 October 2025) identified 71 relevant publications, which were analyzed using bibliometric techniques. Results: Women's participation in the Summer Paralympics follows a non-linear trajectory, reaching near parity at Paris 2024 (44.4%), whereas participation in the Winter Games remains consistently lower, with only modest long-term growth and no comparable movement toward parity (18%-25%). Two study-specific descriptive indicators, i.e., the Weighted Equity Index and the Normalized Female Participation Index, were used to summarize cross-national differences in internal delegation balance and demographic-normalized participation intensity. The bibliometric analysis documents a small but expanding body of literature that is geographically concentrated. Conclusion: These findings suggest a persistent misalignment between the increasing presence of women in the Paralympic Games and the comparatively limited and uneven development of scientific research on this population. The study provides a comprehensive longitudinal mapping of women's participation and offers an empirical basis for future research and policy aimed at improving equity in Paralympic sports.
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