“Coaching soccer is a man’s job!” – The influence of gender stereotypes on structures for recruiting female coaches to soccer clubs

Abstract

Statistics published by the German Football Association indicate that women are significantly under-represented amongst soccer coaches, especially in the amateur leagues. In this paper we analyse how gender stereotypes influence the structural conditions surrounding the recruitment of coaches to soccer clubs that contribute to the exclusion of women from coaching positions. A qualitative study of five selected soccer clubs which are members of a German regional soccer association reveals that informal and personal decision-making practices still play a fundamental role in the recruitment of coaches. These practices undermine formal guidelines and give disproportionate weight to stereotyped preferences in the recruitment of soccer coaches. In this context, decisionmakers' (functionaries') professed support of women largely serves a symbolic purpose and creates an illusion of equality concerning decisions that have already been taken at an informal level.

One of the few: the experiences of female elite-level coaches in Norwegian football

“…As indicated in the introduction Schlesinger and Weigelt-Schlesinger 54 found that informal and personal decision-making practices played a fundamental role in the recruitment of female coaches at the regional level. Further that these undermined formal guidelines and gave disproportional weight to stereotyped preferences when recruiting coaches.…”

“…16 With respect to opportunities in coaching they found themselves outside the male network and overlooked by those (men) at the clubs responsible for the recruitment of coaches. 17 They also experienced that typical masculine behaviours such as self-confidence, ambitions and strong leadership skills were crucial in order to be accepted as coaches, while this at the same time represented a deviation from the norm of being a woman and a stigmatisation as being 'un-feminine.' Similar were the findings in Fielding-Lloyd and Mean's interviews (n=12) among participants at a women-only coaching course at the entry-level in the UK.…”

Women Rugby Union Coaches’ Experiences of Formal Coach Education in Ireland and the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Study

“…Many sports, including rugby union, have a cultural historicism of promoting hegemonic masculine ideals that produce patriarchal spaces (Giazitzoglu, 2020;Joncheray et al, 2016). Indeed, these sociocultural issues have transcended over to the role and identities of coaches through the homologous reproduction of male coaches (Darvin & Lubke, 2020;LaVoi & Dutove, 2012;Norman, 2010a;Reade et al, 2009;Schlesinger & Weigelt-Schlesinger, 2013). The social processes for how these gendered ideologies continue to be reproduced has been exposed by several studies that have thus contributed to our understanding as to why coaching positions are automatically assigned to men.…”

Gender Issue in Masculine Sports in Indonesia: A Case Study

“…Several studies summarized that modern sports were invented by men to cultivate young males to be 'real' men (26,27). Due to this notion, women who perform such activities would be considered as 'deviation' (28)(29)(30)(31). The interviews revealed that the low number of female athletes who have achieved remarkably in masculine sports was influenced by the lack of opportunities given by their families for them to have a career in sports.…”