Women’s participation in collegiate sport has increased dramatically since the passage of Title IX, but there has not been a corresponding increase in the percentage of women in administrative positions. Women have, however, been successful obtaining leadership positions in conference offices, as more than 30% of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I conference commissioners were women in 2016. This research used career construction theory as a framework to explore the experiences of these women. Findings revealed that participants constantly negotiate time spent on personal and professional obligations, and relationships created in the workplace turned into organic mentorship relationships. Participants felt that there were limited amounts of sexism in the workplace, but all discussed experiencing instances of sexism, indicating a culture of gender normalcy. Women may experience increased success in leadership positions at conference offices, compared with on-campus athletic departments, due to limited direct interaction with football and donors.

Women continue to struggle to reach senior-level leadership positions in collegiate sports, and ethnic minorities face the challenges due to their ethnicity as well. This research examined the experiences and challenges of ethnic minority women who are collegiate athletic directors at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight participants using intersectionality as a theoretical framework. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) intersectional challenges, (b) questions of competence, and (c) professional support. The women were continually battling the idea of having to prove themselves and negotiating the challenges of being an ethnic minority woman working in collegiate athletics. They credit their professional networks as a valuable resource during their career progression. The women noted that sexism was more prevalent in their experiences than issues related to their ethnicity. The masculine athletic director stereotype persists in collegiate sports, but the findings of this study can contest the notion of a standard leadership identity that has long been perceived as a White man.

Sport participation for women and girls is at an all-time high in the United States, but women are still widely underrepresented in leadership positions and coaching (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014). Women hold approximately 50% of head coaching positions of women’s teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and only 18% of the head coaching positions of women’s swimming and diving teams (LaVoi & Silva-Breen, 2018). Numerous barriers have been identified through previous research on the factors that inhibit upward career mobility for female coaches. Semi-structured interviews were used to examine the career experiences of 21 current or former female swimming coaches at the NCAA Division I level. The theme of sexism in coaching was pervasive and identified in five different categories: (a) misidentification, (b) differential treatment, (c) isolation, (d) tokenism, and (e) motherhood. The sexism that female coaches experience hinders upward career mobility which can lead to career dissatisfaction and early exits from the field, contributing to the underrepresentation of women in the profession.

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They say sga-du-gi, and that' s the community. Being a part of a community and doing things that way. (That's) the most important part to me because everybody's working together; everybody's seeing each other and helping each other when they can.-George, 31, Cherokee stickball player O ne is likely to stumble upon a centuries-old tradition tucked away in the mountains of western North Carolina on any given October day. A game once known simply as Indian ball, or in the Cherokee language, anetso, is now more commonly referred to as stickball. This particular October day in 2016 is warmer than usual. It is the week of the 104th Annual Cherokee Indian Fair and most of the community is out to partake in the festivities, from food to entertainment, but more importantly, to socialize. The sun is just about to set as two groups of shirtless, barefoot men march, seemingly out of nowhere, onto the open, unmarked field surrounded by hundreds of spectators. The only signifier of sport on the field are the pairs of saplings on each end, the goals. There is a handful of tourists, but the crowd is mostly native to this land, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Babies cry, mothers and fathers quibble, and children engage in play, already bored with the lack of action.