SPORTS

 

Females Not Visible in Leadership Positions

Woman underrepresented in university sports management

Julie Sobowale, The Lance (University of Windsor)

 

WINDSOR, Ont. (CUP)—The sports world
has changed dramatically in the past 30 years

due to the increase of women in professional
sports.

From the gold-medal winning perform-
ance of the Canadian women’s hockey team
at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics to the
recent success of the University of Windsor
Lancer women taking the provincial track
and field title, women’s sports are becoming
more prominent in Canadian culture. What's
lacking is an increase of women in leadership
positions.

Women are trailing men in administrative
positions in sports. While most schools have
an equal number of men’s and women’s
sports teams, there is a lack of women in
more leadership positions.

The University of Windsor is not
immune to the under representation of
women. Out of the list of top administrative
positions posted on the Lancer website, only
10 out of the 35 positions are held by
women. With former Lancer women’s hockey
coach Pat Hennessy taking a leave of
absence, there are only two female head
coaches for the Lancer teams.

“According to recent statistics, the per-
centage of females in leadership roles is the
lowest that it has been in the history of
women’s sport,” said Marge Holman, a pro-
fessor with the University of Windsor human
kinetics department. “While participation
opportunities improve, yet continue to be
fewer than they are for males, females are not
visible in leadership positions for a complexi-
ty of reasons. These need to be addressed by
people in positions of responsibility and
decision-making.”

According to a US study conducted by
the Women’s Sport Foundation in 2004, only
12.2 percent of sport information officers
are women, with 30 percent of athletic train-
ers being women.

“There are many reasons for why women
are underrepresented,” Holman said. “The
male traditions of sport, the lack of female
role models, the social structure of sport and
of society, the marginalization/secondary sta-

tus of females in sport, a culture that does

not welcome or value female contributions.
The barriers are many and are different for
different people.”

The most disturbing statistic is the num-
ber of women heading university sports
departments. Currently, there are about 200
female athletic directors in the US, about 18.5
percent of the total number of directors.
This number has remained steady for the
past six years even though there’s been an
increase in women’s athletic programs.

The Ontario University Athletics league
has a slighter better percentage of top female
representation compared to their US coun-
terparts. Out of the 18 Ontario universities,
there are only four female athletic directors,
or 22 percent of the total number of direc-
tors.

“There’s been very few improvements
over the years,” said Holman. “There are a
few females who have assumed administra-
tive roles in sport, but the presence of
females within the system has not been built
into the structure, so in many instances, their
presence is not sustained. The improvements
have been more at the participatory level.”

As this trend of underrepresented
women in sports continues, groups of female
sport leaders are working to create more
leadership positions for women in the
Windsor area based on community needs in
the coming months. The first major initiative
is a workshop for girls and teachers in one of
the local school systems to be held at the end
of September.

“We need to establish connections within
the university community and community at
large with individuals who have a mutual
interest in advancing the position of females
in sport and physical activity in a variety of
roles,’ Holman said. “Also, we need to com-
municate that there is a new organization
with this mandate and determine areas of
interest and potential resources to help in
achieving organizational goals.”

 

 

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