Gender, Leadership, and Governance in English National Governing Bodies of Sport: Formal Structures, Rules, and Processes

Abstract

Within this article, the authors explore the extent to which the administrative and governance hierarchies, rules, and processes of two English national governing bodies (NGBs) reproduce or resist gender segregation and male dominance within their leadership and governance. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the authors expand upon current literature to better understand the workings of gender power relations at the structural level of organizational practice. Semistructured interviews with male and female leaders were supplemented by an analysis of formal documents. The authors found that gender power relations privileging men were simultaneously conserved and resisted within the two NGBs. While resistance to male-dominated leadership and governance was evident, transformational organizational change was lacking. This highlighted the limitations of strategies being primarily driven through top-down, policy-based approaches. The authors end the article by emphasizing the importance of a combined approach at the structural, cultural, and individual levels to enable sustainable and transformational organizational change.

Introduction: why a Research Handbook on Gender and Diversity in Sport Management

“…Several scholars in the area of sport management and gender have drawn on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, although he himself did not specifically write about gender and sport (Laberge, 1995;Piggott & Matthews, 2020;Piggott & Pike, 2020). Bourdieu is a social theorist well known for his conceptualizations of field, habitus, and capital.…”

The Experiences of Women Leaders in the Higher Education Sport Sector: Examining the Gendered Organization Through Bourdieu’s Model of Field, Capital and Habitus

“…The organisational habitus 'focuses on the informal, unconscious practices which interact to guide the dispositions of the organisation as a whole' (Kitchin & Howe, 2013, p. 129). Within NGBs it has been found that the deep-rooted and masculinised organisational habitus is not able to be disrupted by gender-equity policies (Piggott & Matthews, 2020;Shaw & Penney, 2003). In this regard, Acker's (1990) concept of gendered organisations is useful for considering the organisational habitus, especially given Krais' (2006) argument that habitus is gendered.…”

“…Existing research on gender and leadership within British sport has largely focused on sport governance within English National Governing Bodies (NGBs) (Aitchison, 2005;Piggott, 2019;Piggott, 2021;Piggott & Matthews, 2020;Piggott & Pike, 2020;Shaw, 2006;Shaw & Hoeber, 2003). Existing research within HE sport has exclusively focused on US intercollegiate athletics (ICA) (Hartzell & Dixon, 2019;Sagas & Cunningham, 2004;Wells & Kerwin, 2017;Wells et al, 2021;Whisenant et al, 2002).…”

Mind the Gender Gap in Marine Recreational Fisheries

“…Although the four actions we suggest are only a starting point, they could require some time to be accepted and fully implemented. There may be resistance among some fishermen to this change, who may not support different values and behaviors of fisherwomen, especially in decision-making, as has happened in other sports activities [47]. However, it is urgent and necessary that the gender gap in MRF is included in the agendas of scientists, fishery managers, policy-makers, stakeholder organizations, and civil society in general because gender-related issues in leisure activities have been neglected for too long [48].…”