Mental Strength, Teamwork and Gender Health Gap in Women’s Football and Females in the Music Industry
- Dr. Teresa Wenhart
- Jul 23
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 24
The Women’s Football European Championship highlights the physical and mental strengths of female athletes and opens up broader discussions about gender-specific factors influencing performance. This article explores structural parallels between women’s football and females in the music industry, with a focus on mental resilience, teamwork, and collaboration. It also examines the underrepresentation of gender-specific health research and support systems in both fields, emphasizing the need for more tailored approaches to the physical and psychological demands placed on women in performance-driven environments.

When I was a girl, I loved playing football during every school break—always with the boys. That’s how I started, and soon I joined a club team. We had practice twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, no matter if it was super hot or raining hard. Our girls’ team was the only one in the club, so girls from all ages played together. I was nine, but many teammates were already fifteen or sixteen years old.
Because there were so few of us, we had to play games against the oldest age group. That meant playing with and against girls much bigger and older than me. Sometimes, it felt tough or unfair. If I missed out on a game because we were on holiday or I had a cold, I got really upset—I just didn’t want to miss a thing.
Music was part of my life too. I had piano lessons once a week and played in school bands and as an accompanist for chamber music. I also remember the music that was played during the warm up and between the games at soccer tournaments. At home, I was always practicing for ten minutes at the piano, then running outside to kick the ball or just play in the garden and come back to the piano.
Last year, I had the chance to bring these two worlds together. I organized a panel discussion, gathering accomplished musicians and a former female national football player from Germany. Our talk dove deep into mental strength—how we all, regardless of field or stage, confront invisible battles. Listening to everyone’s stories made it clear that, even though the settings are different, a lot of the experiences overlap—especially in dealing with expectations, competition and performance pressure.
“Excellence—be it in sport or in music—demands room for mistakes, the courage to be authentic, and communities that cherish individual difference.” (Teresa Wenhart)
Mental Strength and Performance Pressure
Both women’s football and the music industry require exceptional mental resilience to thrive under constant observation and high expectations. Recent research in women’s football underscores that psychological attributes like mental toughness, anxiety management, and intrinsic motivation significantly influence individual and team performance. Similarly, musicians encounter performance anxiety, perfectionism, and emotional stress, with psychological resilience and coping strategies like visualization, mindfulness, and cognitive restructuring supporting their performance.
Mental Training and Preparedness: Psychological skills such as breath control, self-talk, and imagery have proven benefits for both athletes and musicians, helping them cope with anxiety and optimize focus during performances or competitions.
Confidence and Resilience: Belief in personal ability (self-efficacy) and the capacity to recover from setbacks are equally vital in achieving excellence in both fields.
A direct comparison between athletes and musicians shows that, on average, musicians exhibit lower mental toughness, lower conscientiousness, but higher neuroticism and openness to experience. These psychological differences reflect not only individual personality traits but also the distinct social and evaluative contexts in which female musicians and athletes operate. Musicians often learn and work in social isolation or one-on-one settings and frequently as freelancers, experiencing an emotional pressure that is very different from that faced by female football players, who operate within teams under constant collaboration, performance, and competitive pressure. Even in orchestras, which perform as groups, hierarchical structures and extended periods of silent evaluation are common, posing emotional regulation challenges that differ from the immediate, dynamic pressure of team sports. These differing work and evaluation environments shape not only psychological stress but also how resilience and mental strength are developed and demanded. Therefore, tailored, profession-specific support and training programs are necessary—ones that consider both the individual and social contexts of female musicians and athletes.
Comparable Training and Performance Structures
The fundamentals of training, discipline, and performance connect sport and music psychology:
Routine Practice and Skill Development: Both professions demand long-term, focused work, repetition, goal setting, and continuous feedback, which drive improvement and resilience.
Live Performance and Competitive Pressure: Concert performances and competitive matches are high-stakes scenarios; mastering nerves and channeling energy for peak moments is essential and mentally taxing.
While sports science has taken early steps toward gender-sensitive practice, the music industry has the opportunity to lead innovation by adapting and extending these insights to its own unique context.
Comparable Societal and Structural Barriers for Females in the Music Industry
Women in both domains confront persistent gender stereotypes and structural obstacles.
Marginalization and Stereotyping: Female footballers and musicians often need to demonstrate higher levels of achievement to gain the same recognition as male counterparts. They are more exposed to gendered criticism and face societal underestimation, which increases psychological strain.
Leadership and Representation: There is a shortage of women in leadership roles—such as coaches, conductors, or executives—which affects visibility, mentorship, and the transmission of expertise to future generations.
Emotional Labor: Women frequently expend extra effort to prove legitimacy and gain respect, heightening emotional workload and mental fatigue.
Neglect of Female-Specific Health Concerns and Training Needs
Topics such as the female athlete triad, pregnancy, menopause, and the menstrual cycle’s impact on performance—as well as issues related to risk of injury, fluctuating hearing functions or individual stress reactions—remain comparatively under-researched and stigmatized in both sport and music contexts.
While sports science has started to adapt training styles and protocols by considering female-specific physiological and psychological needs—such as adjusting load and recovery based on hormonal fluctuations or addressing pregnancy and postpartum return to sport—comparable efforts are largely absent in music education and training. Music programs and conservatories continue to rely on generic, “one-size-fits-all” approaches that do not account for the unique physical and mental health challenges female musicians may encounter. This not only affects the prevention of performance-related and occupational health risks but also the potential to optimize musical skill acquisition and mental training strategies based on female-specific needs and strengths, as well as effectively teaching these tools to students in higher education.
What Could Musical Reform Look Like?
To address this gap, music fields could:
Develop ergonomic instrument adjustments for pregnancy and postpartum models.
Introduce hormone-aware practice planning, taking into account menstrual cycles and hormone fluctuations for workload scheduling.
Provide access to mental health counseling for female musicians focused on premenstrual dysphoria, menopause, and other gender-specific concerns e.g. in stage fright or occupational stress.
Encourage institutions to fund research into gender-specific injury prevention and create mentorship networks that mirror coaching pathways in soccer.
By incorporating these strategies, music education can become more inclusive and responsive to the full spectrum of women's needs.
Gender Differences in Teamwork and Collaboration
In women’s football, successful teamwork requires trust, communication, and mutual accountability on and off the pitch. Women athletes often foster emotionally supportive team environments, which enhance motivation and collective resilience under pressure.
Similarly, orchestras and ensembles depend on nuanced interpersonal collaboration; female musicians who demonstrate cooperative and empathic leadership foster cohesion and expressive synchronicity. These social dynamics—rooted in socialization and gendered tendencies toward empathy and communication—support superior group performance.
Multiple studies highlight meaningful gender differences in teamwork and collaboration that illuminate experiences in both football and music:
Women Enhance Team Collaboration: Research shows that the presence of women in teams improves cooperation, communication, and social sensitivity, which are critical for collective intelligence and decision making. For example, Woolley et al. (2010) found that group effectiveness often depends less on individual intelligence and more on members' social perceptiveness—a skill more prevalent in women’s teamwork.
Preference for Cooperation Over Competition: Women, who are often socially conditioned toward cooperation, may exhibit preferences for consensus-building and mutual support over direct competition. Female-dominated teams prioritize psychological safety and collaboration, fostering environments where members feel heard and valued.
Mixed-Gender Teams Are Often Most Effective: Studies (including Woolley et al. and meta-analyses by Randazzo-Davis & Nelson, 2023) have found that mixed-gender teams benefit from complementary decision-making styles—women contributing cooperation and social insight, men contributing competitive drive—when psychological safety is high and leadership is inclusive.
Women Rated Higher for Conscientiousness and Responsibility: Studies within team projects show women frequently outperform men in areas such as task completion, attention to detail, meeting deadlines, and peer support. These trends are linked to both individual and team success, though context and structure matter
Practical Takeaways The Music Industry
Enhance Gender-Inclusive Team Cultures:
Create leadership pathways that support female coaches, conductors, and managers to model empowered teamwork.
Encourage psychological safety, where women’s collaborative styles are recognized and valued as resources.
Institutional Change:
Integrate menstrual cycle awareness and flexible workload planning in curricula and rehearsal schedules.
Establish mentorship and peer support programs for female and non-binary musicians, mirroring structures that have advanced women’s leadership in sport.
Close the Gender Research Gap: Make dedicated research into female-specific health, performance, and social dynamics a priority for both music and sport psychology. Collaboration between sports scientists, music educators, and health professionals can drive systemic innovation.
To achieve true equity and optimize well-being, performance, and career longevity, music training programs and institutions must develop differentiated, gender-responsive support systems and research methodologies—moving beyond generic models.
Conclusion
Mental strength in women’s football and music reflects more than individual grit—it arises from socially attuned teamwork shaped by gendered interaction styles. Women’s emphasis on cooperation and communication enriches team dynamics, driving success and inclusion.
Empowering female performers, athletes, and leaders means breaking down barriers, embracing vulnerability as strength, and celebrating the full spectrum of lived experience. under stadium lights or stage spotlights, the journey is united by the courage to perform, inspire, fall, and rise again.
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