Gender, inequality & diversity in sport and sport organizations Dr. Inge Claringbould

1. Gender, inequality & diversity in sport and sport organizations Dr. Inge Claringbould School of Governance Utrecht University

3. Programm • Who is your hero/heroine in the field of sport? • Women’s history in sport • Gender • Men/Women in (sport) organizations

4. Womens sport in historical perspective

6. End 19th century. Boys learned masculine values at boarding schools through sport

7. Women sports in history

8. 1896 Athenes Olympic Games 0 women 1900 Paris Olympic games 11/1344 (French, American, Brittish) 1908 London Olympic games 43/2056 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 4702/11.196 (42%)

9. Conclusion - Womens sport is relatively young • Proportion of men and women participating in sport is more equal than before • Meanings (values and norms) about women in sports have changed. • Gender as a social construction within a historical and cultural context

10. Gendered meaning constructions: • Men or/and Women, Transgender • Gender Roles • Gendered Practices/Practicing Gender (Connell, 2006) • Gender Order (Ridgeway, 1997) • Intersectionalities

12. Gendered meanings: • Men or/and Women, Transgender • Gender Roles • Gendered Practices/Practicing Gender (Connell) • Gender Order (Ridgeway)

16. Multiple Power Struggles Gender & intersectionality • Gender & heteronormativity/homophobia • Gender & race • Gender & abledness

22. Gender inequality in (sport) organizations

23. Constructing gender in sportorganizations

24. Explanations to the relatively low percentages of women (higher) level positions in (sport) organizations. • Society (patriarchic) • Processes of socialization • Natural/biological differences • Organizational explanations (selection & recruitment, old boys network, macho organizational cultures) • Social capital (e.g. education & job experience) • Economical explanations • Lack of policy measures

25. ‘Doing gender’ or gender as a social construction, re-producing dominant ideas about gender through interaction. This perspective : • Is less deterministic • Recognizes power relations - Recognizes that dominant perspectives may also be challenged

26. Gender as a Social Construction in (sport) organizations (Joan Acker, 1991) • Four organisational processes 1. Processes of differentiation within organisational structures 2. Sense making: symbols, meanings, values and norms 3. Interaction 4. Identity work

27. What profit do these processes make? • The construction of status and power positions and the construction of organizational/societal structures. • The creation of rules and habits hold useful behavioral instructions for individual people(they contain practical value) • These processes are so obvious and implicit (liminal awareness, Martin, 2003), that we rarely discuss them.

28. Towards an anti-sexist practice…some provisional ideas • Organizational: • Implementing policies. • Awareness & knowledge on sexism and discrimination • Re-organise and gender relations of power in (sport) organizations. • Individual (men & women): - Challenging stereotypes - Empowering women/minorities through sport and leisure - Understanding and transforming the male culture of sport

29. Practicing gender • Gender as identity work • Gender as social construction • Gender as political, organizational and economic practice

30. Conclusion: Thinking about gender (and diversity in general) is among others defined by cultural and historical processes. In a way: - Contextual and Universal - Dynamic en Stable

31. Thank you very much for your commitment. Questions??

32. Do you think it makes difference if you watch a womens footbal match from the national Brittish team as a man or as a woman?

33. Do you think it makes difference if you watch a womens footbal match from the national Brittish team as a men with only men or as an only man within a group of woman?

34. Case description : Just a short time before the last Olympic Winter Games Maren Haugli (Norwegian elite ice skater) reported to the Norwegian Skating Federation about her coach Peter Mueller. She accused him of sexual harassment and intimidating comments. Peter Mueller made his excuses, but Maren Haugli refuses to continue working with her coach Peter.

35. Discuss in small groups (3 or 4 persons) • How serious do you think this problem is? Why? • How en why is this a gender issue? • Do you think policy measures could help to prevent this problem? What & Why? • What should you do if you were a member of the board of the Norwegian Skating Federation? Why?