scholarly journals Gender Segregation and Trajectories of Organizational Change: The Underrepresentation of Women in Sports Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine Pape

This article offers an account of organizational change to explain why women leaders are underrepresented compared to women athletes in many sports organizations. I distinguish between accommodation and transformation as forms of change: the former includes women without challenging binary constructions of gender, the latter transforms an organization’s gendered logic. Through a case study of the International Olympic Committee from 1967-1995, I trace how the organization came to define gender equity primarily in terms of accommodating women’s segregated athletic participation. Key to this was the construction of women’s bodies as athletically able but inferior to men, an arrangement formalized in codified rules and procedures and legitimized by external stakeholders. Defined in these terms, gender equity did little to transform the organization’s binary and hierarchically gendered logic, which continued to shape the informal norms and procedures associated with the organization’s allegedly gender-neutral and meritocratic yet male-dominated leadership. I argue that the exclusion of women from ostensibly gender-integrated leadership positions allows organizations to avoid revealing gender similarity between men and women. This maintains a logic underpinned by notions of binary gender difference and masculine superiority.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 78-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Li ◽  
R. de Souza ◽  
S. Esfandiari ◽  
J. Feine

In the last few decades, the number of women graduating from North American (NA) dental schools has increased significantly. Thus, we aimed to determine women’s representation in leadership positions in NA dental and specialty associations/organizations, dental education, and dental journals, as well as the proportion of men/women researcher members of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR). We contacted NA dental associations to provide us with the total number and the men/women distribution of their members. Men/women distributions in leadership positions were accessible from the internet, as were data on the sex of deans of NA dental schools. Data on the editors in chief of NA dental journals were gathered from their websites, and the AADR provided the number and sex of its researcher members. Collected data underwent descriptive statistics and binomial tests (α = 0.05). Our findings suggest that women are underrepresented in leadership positions within the major NA dental professional associations. While the median ratio of women leaders to women members in professional associations is 0.91 in Canada, it is only 0.67 in the United States. The same underrepresentation of women is evident in the leadership of the Canadian Dental Association and the American Dental Association. We found that women are underrepresented as deans and editors in chief for NA oral health journals. Only 16 of 77 NA dental school deans are women, while 3 of 38 dental journals have women editors in chief. The probability of finding these ratios by chance is low. However, the number of women dental researcher AADR members underwent an overall increase in the past decade, while the number of men declined. These results suggest that, despite the increase in women dentists, it will take time and effort to ensure that they move through the pipeline to senior leadership positions in the same manner as their male colleagues.



2021 ◽  
pp. 089124322110463
Author(s):  
Amée Bryan ◽  
Stacey Pope ◽  
Alexandra J. Rankin-Wright

In this article, we frame men’s club football as an “extremely gendered” organization to explain the underrepresentation of women leaders within the industry. By analyzing women’s leadership work over a 30-year period, we find that women’s inclusion has been confined to a limited number of occupational areas. These areas are removed, in terms of influence and proximity, from the male players and the playing of football. These findings reveal a gendered substructure within club football that maintains masculine dominance in core football leadership roles and relegates women to a position of peripheral inclusion in leadership roles. Through a discourse analysis of gender pay gap reports, we show that men’s football clubs legitimize women’s peripheral inclusion by naturalizing male dominance at the organizational core. These findings are significant because they demonstrate that men’s football clubs, as masculinity-conferring organizations, have excluded women from core roles to maintain their masculine character while superficially accepting women into roles that do not challenge the association of football with hegemonic masculinity. Therefore, organizational change may be possible only if women are granted greater access to core organizational roles. Here, we offer a new theoretical framework for “extremely gendered” organizations that can be applied to other sporting and male-dominated contexts to analyze women’s access to core leadership roles.



2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1&2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela L. Eddy

The paucity of women leaders in higher education continues despite advancement by women in other fronts of the educational pipeline.  Today, more women are attending and graduating from college in the United States, but something occurs en route to the top-level leadership positions in these same college settings.  The portrait of college leaders continues to consist of White men, as it has since the initial founding of universities.  Paula Burkinshaw analyzes the situation of the missing women leaders in the United Kingdom, specifically in the position of Vice Chancellor.  Burkinshaw’s long career in leadership development in university settings initially provided her with an awareness of the underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions.  As she began her doctoral studies, she had an opportunity to ask “where are the women?”  Her book builds on her dissertation research, which involved one-on-one interviews with 18 women who were vice chancellors.



2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirian Pabatao Aman

National Sports Associations, National and International Sports Federations and even International Olympic Committee continue to struggle meeting the 20% representation quota of women in executive boards. Although women’s representation as athletes, coaches and officials increased in national and international sports competitions but not in leadership particularly in top positions. In sports leadership, empirical research showed statistical figures that women have gained access in leadership pipeline however, they still lack in representing the executive boards. This study is a part of a larger phenomenological investigation which purpose was to identify factors that may influence the persistent underrepresentation of women in top leadership position. From a purposive maximum variation sampling of seven participants, top women leaders in Malaysia national sports organisations were interviewed about their career path and experiences on how and why women top leaders continue to lag behind with their male counterparts. Results suggest self-limiting behaviors, work-life conflict and interpersonal relationships among other women contributed to the underrepresentation of women in top positions. Factors attributed to social perception of gender and leadership roles incongruence also limited women leaders’ access in organisations which subsequently contributed to pipeline problem. Moreover, participants offered suggestions in overcoming the challenges and personal strategies in advancing opportunities and career development.



Author(s):  
Sadé E. Soares ◽  
Nancy M. Sidun

Abstract. Women make up almost 50% of our global population ( World Bank, 2019 ); however, they comprise only 6% of elected nation leaders ( UN Women, 2020a ). Though small in number, when coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic impacted our societies in 2019, women leaders were featured for their skillful navigation of an unknown and invisible threat. An understanding of the history of work toward gender equity, the current state of female leadership, and the continued barriers facing female leadership are reviewed to gain increased appreciation for why this emphasis was placed on female leadership. Researches analyzing women leaders during COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic are presented, showcasing the promising and significant findings. Global women leaders consistently demonstrated a trend of enacting prompt public health measures, resulting in low death rates.



Author(s):  
Freda R. Russell

This chapter examines research from the lens of women who are in mid-level and senior-level positions in their organizations. Using Mezirow's framework for transformational learning, these inspiring women leaders shared perceptions of organizational practices, work-family interface, institutional culture, issues of equity and diversity, institutional challenges, and personal mastery; they also defined their actions that contributed to their successes as well as the successes of the organizations they identified with. Additionally, within this chapter, the author compares and contrasts the barriers that limit women's ability to aspire to top leadership positions and examine the roles of their primary and secondary supports (i.e., sponsors, family, mentors, work teams, and peer networks).



Leadership ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-318
Author(s):  
Claire O’Neill

This paper introduces the concept of dys-appearance ( Leder, 1990 ) as a way of conceptualising the lived experience of alterity (or Otherness) of women’s bodies in leadership. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study (using interviews and photo-elicitation) it contributes towards growing bodies of literature that emphasise the corporeal and highlight the Othering of the female body in the masculine discourse of leadership. Contemporary leadership scholars have drawn on Merleau-Pontian phenomenology to conceptualise the fundamental reversibility of embodied perception between the leader and the follower, but this analysis has not extended to a consideration of the sexed and gendered body. By focusing on the subjective experiences of women leaders this paper demonstrates the phenomenon of dys-appearance ( Leder, 1990 ) in which the female body, which signifies a socially problematic presence in this context, appears to the subject in a disruptive or unwanted manner within their self-perception. The self-objectification and dys-appearance of the recalcitrant body exerts a telic demand upon the self to rectify its problematic presence and return it to a state of undisruptive normality. This analysis contributes novel insights on the unique or different experiences of leadership for women, and the impact of the problematizing of the female body on their self-perceptions.



Author(s):  
Kishan N Bodalina ◽  
Raj Mestry

This research was inspired by two critical factors relating to women leaders in senior positions in education district offices. Firstly, women leaders are continually plagued with stereotyping, and secondly, women are repeatedly undermined by male colleagues. Although the South African Constitution and other related legislation prohibits any form of gender discrimination, inequalities and injustices against women still prevail. Women are subjected to a false notion that they lack the resilience and experience desired when faced with hard-hitting or threatening situations. The primary focus of this study was to explore the experiences of women leaders in senior positions in the Gauteng East Education District office. To underpin this study, intersectionality and feminist theories were selected. Using a qualitative case study, one of the main findings of this study revealed that women in senior leadership positions in education districts persistently struggled to balance their work and family life amidst rooted patriarchal systems and cultural traditions. These women primarily lacked the aspiration to apply for senior leadership positions, but through formal mentorship, dedication and resilience took up senior leadership positions in education district offices.



2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-509
Author(s):  
Julia A. Valley ◽  
Kim C. Graber

Purpose:This study examined physical education teachers’ awareness of gender equitable practices as well as the language and behaviors they employed in the physical education environment. The purpose of the study was to determine (a) what teachers know about gender equitable practices, (b) what types of gender bias are demonstrated, and (c) how teachers are influenced to adopt gender equitable behaviors in the physical education context.Method:A multiple-case study approach was used to provide an in-depth analysis of the attitudes and behaviors of four physical education teachers from four different schools. Teachers were formally and informally interviewed before, during, and after four extensive two-week periods of observations that included being audio recorded throughout the school day.Results:Themes emerged across the cases indicating that teachers engaged in teaching practices that reinforced gender stereotypes through biased language and gender segregation.Discussion/Conclusion:Teachers’ lack of awareness and understanding of gender equity prevented them from providing an inclusive learning experience for all students.



2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 17434
Author(s):  
Stephanie Duchek ◽  
Charlotte Foerster ◽  
Ianina Scheuch


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