The higher the organization level, the lower the percentage of women in governance. The purpose of the present study was to explore how men and women negotiate women's 'fit' as candidates for boards of national sport organizations. We based our analysis on in-depth interviews with male chairs and female board members. The results provide evidence that men can control boards by affirming and negating affirmative action policies and by framing the process of recruitment and selection in such a way as to reproduce the male-dominated culture in the board. Women, in their turn, tend to negotiate their entry by distancing themselves from their gender and proving their 'fit.'

No abstract

Processes of sense making enable individuals to explain or give meaning to their experiences including those pertaining to gender. Meanings shape both individual behaviors and expectations for the behavior of others. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how board members of national sport associations in the Netherlands made sense of gendered arrangements. We used a sense making approach that acknowledges the significance of context (gender ratio) and constructions of meaning in shaping organizational practices. The results, based on 29 semi-structured interviews, showed how board members gave meanings to gender skewness that included defining board work as gender (in) appropriate and sustaining and challenging behaviors defined as stereotypical. We discuss how the results reflect doing and undoing gender.

Inclusionary and exclusionary mechanisms that influence sport participation and positions of leadership in sport form a complex constellation of interacting factors and dimensions. Who can, who is allowed, and who is willing to participate in sport is influenced by institutional selection mechanisms as much as by individual options and choices. Socialization, money and time, accessibility of sporting facilities, normative and discriminating structures and cultures, and sporting abilities and talent are interacting in/exclusionary factors that influence sport participation options among people with different social-status positions (e.g., age, gender, and ethnicity). Changes in the facilitation and organization of sport can enhance a more inclusive sport practice, which might also foster social inclusion in broader society. The focus of this article is on changing and reproducing patterns of social inclusionary and exclusionary mechanisms in (post)modern sport in Western countries like the Netherlands. We present and analyze the current status and development in central theories, governmental policies, and empirical data.

The relatively low percentage of women and minority sport journalists suggests dynamics of exclusion. We used J. Acker's (1990Acker's ( , 1992 theory about gender and organizations to examine several interrelated processes in the construction of gender and ethnicity in sport journalism. Acker named 4 processes that inform these constructions: division of labor, images and discourses, interactions, and identity work. We held semistructured interviews with 15 experienced journalists/editors who worked in the sport departments of either national newspapers, commercial television, or public television. The results indicate that, although the journalists asserted that the meanings given to their ways of doing journalism are ideologically neutral, these 4 processes do construct gender and ethnicity in overlapping and interrelated ways. In the discussion, we place these results in their context and focus on this contradiction between desirable and actual neutrality.

The gender ratio of those in positions of leadership continues to be skewed toward a male majority. The purpose of this study is to explore how practices of gender may contribute to the lack of significant change in this skewed ratio in (sport) organizations. We situate our study within Martin’s (2003, 2006) notion of practices of gender. We conducted interviews with 15 sport journalists and 32 members of boards of governance of sport organizations to investigate how the skewed gender ratio was maintained and challenged by paradoxical practices of gender. The results show that practices of gender neutrality, normalcy and passivity strengthened and maintained the current gender skewness. We also give examples of disruptive practices that contributed to the undoing of gender in these organizations.

This study investigated the development of the legacies of the five World Conferences on Women and Sport that have been convened by the International Working Group on Women and Sport from 1994 to 2010. In particular, it examined the ways in which gender is constructed in these legacies in relation to gender equality in sport leadership. The theoretical framework was drawn from Connell's four-dimensional gender model, which suggests that gender relations can be characterized in terms of four interwoven dimensions of social life: production, power, emotion and symbolism. The method used was a comparative case study of five legacies. We conducted a content analysis of documents relevant to the five legacies. Findings show that, in all five legacies, gender in relation to sport leadership was mainly constructed on the dimension of production and power relations (more women in leadership positions) and symbolic relations (creating a sporting culture that values women's participation at all levels). By contrast, the gendered dimension of emotional relations -collaboration between men and women -received limited attention. The implications of these findings for the acceleration of gender equality in sport leadership are discussed.

Although diversity is an often cited organisational value, its support is often muted when it pertains to boards of governance. The aim of this study is to identify discursive practices that may prevent or limit the implementation of measures to increase gender balance in sport governance at the national and international levels. Drawing on a total of 60 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with board members, we explore both the content of and reasons for discursive opposition to implementing gender balance in the governing boards of international and national sport organisations that purport to value diversity. The results demonstrate that board members justify their resistance to gender balance by drawing on discourses of meritocracy, neoliberalism, silence/passivity, and diversity. Resistance to gender balance in sport governance may in part have roots in the sport capital and habitus of board members, and their ability to utilise that in normalising judgment that may keep women out.