Gendered Leadership Expectations in Sport: Constructing Differences in Coaches

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the gendered nature of sport leadership by analyzing female college athletes' perceptions of leadership associated with sport coaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 female college athletes participating in NCAA Division I team sports to understand their perceptions of leadership associated with coaching and to examine the gendered nature of their leadership constructions. Findings indicated two gendered leadership attributes were associated with coaching (i.e., human capital and empathy) in the context of women's college sport. While both men and women were cited as ideal leaders based on their human capital and ability to express empathy, these leadership attributes were evaluated and applied differently to male and female coaches. The gendered nature of human capital and empathy contributed to the further privileging of men and certain forms of dominant masculinities over women and forms of femininities within notions of sport leadership and coaching. This study contributes to the gender and sport literature and offers practical implications focused on individual and interpersonal strategies.

Exploring the Influence of the Community-Based Sports Club Environment on the Support and Development of Volunteer Women Coaches in Ireland

“…The culture and perception of considering men to be better coaches than women was apparent in all the coaches' stories and often occurred naturally and without evidence, which aligns with the findings of Schull and Kihl ( 2019 ). Invariably, all eleven coaches referred, to their blow-in or outsider status, due to the parochial nature of the sport, which is attributed, anecdotally at least, to the overall Gaelic games culture.…”

“It’s Not Particularly P.C., You Know . . .”: Women Coaches’ Performing Gender in Strength and Conditioning

“…Therefore, it can be argued that women entering the field of S&C are transgressing, not only through sports but also muscle, both of which are still often considered to be quintessential components of Western masculinity. To wit, when women enter male-dominated fields, especially those associated with leadership responsibilities such as S&C coaching, they often face a multitude of challenges such as marginalization, prejudice, and the presence of gender stereotypes (Schull & Kihl, 2019), further demonstrating a male hegemonic power structure.…”

“…In sports coaching, female athletes also tend to perpetuate gender stereotypes and have expressed preferences for male coaches due to assumptions around men having higher qualifications, greater sports knowledge, and better coaching/leadership skills (Schull & Kihl, 2019). These attitudes are also shared within S&C. For instance, male athletes appear to prefer working with male S&C coaches (Magnusen & Rhea, 2009)-although this observation requires further exploration as many male athletes may not have ever worked with a female coach, and female athletes believe that resistance training is a masculine activity that should be reserved for men (Fischer, 2005).…”

Perceptions of the sport leadership labyrinth through the career pathways of intercollegiate women administrators

“…Building off of the foundation of social role theory and sex-specific socialization processes, role congruity theory (RCT) essentially details the presumed incongruity or 'lack of fit' certain individuals maintain for specific occupations and levels of leadership within an organization. The tenants of RCT have been previously utilized to examine the underrepresentation of women within the sport industry (e.g., Darvin 2020;Madsen 2016;Madsen et al 2017;Schull and Kihl 2018). Specific to the current study, women are often underrepresented within sport due to a perceived 'lack of fit' with the characteristics stereotypically assumed as essential to success.…”