Half Title Page
Gender Equity in UK Sport Leadership and Governance
Series Title Page
Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender
Series Editor: Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, University of Toronto, Canada.
Editorial Board: Doug Booth, University of Otago, New Zealand; Jayne Caudwell, Bournemouth University, UK; Delia Douglas, University of British Columbia, Canada; Janice Forsyth, University of Western Ontario, Canada; Tara Magdalinski, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; Jaime Schultz, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Heather Sykes, University of Toronto, Canada; Beccy Watson, Leeds Beckett University, UK.
Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender promotes research on two important and related areas within sport studies: women and gender. The concept of gender is included in the series title in order to problematize traditional binary thinking that classifies individuals as male or female, rather than looking at the full gender spectrum. In sport contexts, this is a particularly relevant and controversial issue, for example, in the case of transgender athletes and female athletes with hyperandrogenism. The concept of sport is interpreted broadly to include activities ranging from physical recreation to high-performance sport.
The interdisciplinary nature of the series will encompass social and cultural history and philosophy as well as sociological analyses of contemporary issues. Since any analysis of sport and gender has political implications and advocacy applications, learning from history is essential.
Previous Volumes
Running, Identity and Meaning: The Pursuit of Distinction Through Sport – Neil Baxter
Gender, Athletes' Rights, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport – Helen Lenskyj
Sports Charity and Gendered Labour – Catherine Palmer
The Professionalisation of Women's Sport: Issues and Debates – Ali Bowes and Alex Culvin
Sport, Gender and Mega-Events – Katherine Dashper
Forthcoming Volumes
Women's Football in a Global, Professional Era – Alex Culvin and Ali Bowes
Sport, Gender and Development: Intersections, Innovations and Future Trajectories – Lyndsay Hayhurst, Holly Thorpe, and Megan Chawansky
Title Page
Gender Equity in UK Sport Leadership and Governance
Edited by
Philippa Velija
Psychology and Education at Solent University, UK
And
Lucy Piggott
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK
First edition 2022
Copyright © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-80043-207-9 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-80043-206-2 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-80043-208-6 (Epub)
Dedications
Philippa dedicates this book to Mollie, Merida, Eva, Gabriella and Antonia; the Velija and Kekic Little Women, who I know we will go onto to do wonderful things - I can't wait to see and be a part of those journeys.
Lucy dedicates this book to Dr Anita White OBE, a true and tireless trailblazer in the women and sport movement who continues to inspire the next generation of women sport leaders.
List of Tables and Figures
| Table 1. | Female Board Members on the Board of Sport Organisations in the UK between 2010 and 2019. |
| Table 2. | Participants’ Experience and Athletic Positions. |
| Table 3. | Sports in the United Kingdom That Underwent NGB Mergers, 1989–2017. |
| Table 4. | Irish National Governing Bodies with More Than 30% Female Representation on Boards. |
| Table 5. | Irish National Governing Bodies with Less Than 15% Female Representation on Boards. |
| Table 6. | Governance Audit of Welsh National Governing Bodies. |
| Table 7. | Organisations Included as ‘National Organisations’. |
| Table 8. | Mean Gender Pay Gap Data in National Organisations. |
| Table 9. | Proportion of Women in Lowest and Highest Pay Quartiles in National Organisations. |
| Table 10. | Mean Gender Pay Gap Data for National Governing Bodies. |
| Table 11. | Proportion of Women in the Highest and Lowest Pay Quartiles in National Governing Bodies. |
| Table 12. | Bonus Paid Data in National Governing Bodies. |
| Table 13. | Mean Gender Pay Gap Data in Professional Organisations. |
| Table 14. | Bonus Pay Data in National Governing Bodies. |
| Figure 1. | Key Stakeholders of UK Sport Governance. |
| Figure 2. | Access to Power and Privilege in Inequality Regimes. |
| Figure 3. | Provinces of Ireland and Six Counties of Northern Ireland. |
| Figure 4. | The Number of Women and Men on Welsh Sport Boards. |
| Figure 5. | The Percentage of Women and Men on Welsh Sport Boards. |
| Figure 6. | The Template Analysis Output. |
| Figure 7. | Proposed Model for Coaching Systems Leader Development. |
About the Contributors
Beth Burgess is a PhD Student at the University of Worcester. Research interests are within sport and centred upon marginalised groups within sport, with an emphasis on sexuality and gender. Current research is on the experiences of non-heterosexual individuals within the sports workforce.
Dr Jane Booth is a Leadership Consultant with 25 years' experience in the sport sector in the United Kingdom. She has published research into diversity networks in the corporate sector and the impact of mentoring for women in the workplace and completed her PhD on effective leadership in sport coaching.
Dr Kate Clayton-Hathway is a Research Fellow with the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice, Oxford Brookes University Business School. She led a key research study on women and diversity in the horseracing industry in 2016–17 and continues to work with the sport's stakeholders to develop its equality structures.
Dr Jane Dennehy, after a successful decade in advertising and marketing, she returned to academia and completed a PhD at the Gender Institute at the London School of Economics. Currently she combines research with advisory work in gender and sport with specialist interests in governance and boardroom dynamics.
Dr Lisa Edwards is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Ethics in the Cardiff School of Sport & Health Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her research interests are sports ethics in general and sexism, gender and sexuality and feminist philosophy in particular.
Dr Alun Hardman is Senior Lecturer in Sport Ethics in the Cardiff School of Sport & Health Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He is the co-editor of Ethics of Sport Coaching (2010) and Philosophy of Sport: International Perspectives (2010).
Vanessa Jones is Principal Lecturer and Director of Academic Partnerships in the School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Worcester. She was the Project Lead for an Erasmus+ project related to gender equality in sport leadership. Her research interests include women in sport and exercise from a coaching, leadership and management perspective.
Professor Annelies Knoppers is Professor (emerita) at the Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She served as Editor of Sociology of Sport Journal, has published of many papers on gender/diversity, co-authored Gender, culture, and physicality: Paradoxes and taboos (2009) and is co-editor of Gender diversity in European sport governance (2019).
Dr Katie Liston is Senior Lecturer in the Social Sciences of Sport at Ulster University (Northern Ireland). She is co-editor of the award-winning four-volume collection The Business and Culture of Sports: Society, Politics, Economy, Environment.
Dr Rafaelle Nicholson is a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University whose research focuses on the history of women's sport and women's involvement in sport governance. Her publications include Ladies and Lords: A History of Women's Cricket in Britain (Peter Lang, 2019). She is also a freelance cricket journalist who has written for The Guardian, ESPNCricinfo and Wisden, and runs her own women's cricket website, www.CRICKETher.com.
Dr Lucy Piggott is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her research interests are broadly related to gender and inclusion in sport. Lucy has been closely involved in the work of the Anita White Foundation (AWF), including coordinating the Women's Sport Leadership Academy (WSLA) and administrating WSLA for High Performance Coaches.
Robyn Pinder is a Lecturer in Sports Ethics in the Cardiff School of Sport & Health Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales. Her PhD is researching the duties, rights and obligation of gay, lesbian and bisexual athletes making public their sexual orientation. She co-authored Gambling Sponsorship and Advertising in British Football: A Critical Account (2019).
Rhea Preston is a Lecturer in Football Development at Solent University. She has worked in the field of sports development for 10 years, including at the County Football Association. Her experience of working within a County FA has encouraged her to explore issues of gender and power within male-dominated National Governing Bodies.
Gillian Renfree is a Course Leader and Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management at the University of Worcester. Her research interests include sport organisational politics, stakeholder relationships and identity through sport. Her current research projects relate to Gen Z communication preferences, sport event volunteer motivations and gender equality in sport.
Dr Elena Simpkins is an Inclusion Consultant with the social impact firm Flexability. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion scholar who received her doctorate from the University of Michigan in Sport Management. Her dissertation was entitled: Black women in Sport Leadership: An exploration of Sport Intersectional Model of Power (SIMP), which explores the impact of organisational cultures on Black women's leadership opportunities and experiences, culminating in the Sport Intersectional Model of Power.
Dr Philippa Velija is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Head of Social Sciences, Psychology and Education at Solent University. Her research has focused on sociological theory and understanding gender relations in sport and girls and women's experiences in sports. Philippa is author of Women's Cricket and Global Processes (Palgrave) and co-editor of Figurational Research in Sport, Leisure and Health (Routledge).
Acknowledgements
Philippa and Lucy would like to thank the authors who have contributed to this text. We started this text just before a global pandemic and we have been so fortunate to work with some exceptional scholars who have been juggling work, family, ill health, bereavement, personal issues and all the other countless implications of the pandemic on our lives. During our editorial journey we have learnt a lot from the authors about gender and sport governance, their exciting research and ideas and we have been inspired and challenged by this.
Philippa would like to thank her girls Mollie and Merida for continuing to be a source of inspiration, and at times during home schooling a source of frustration! Many thanks to all my husband, Cimi, friends – The Tripod and colleagues. Huge thank you to Lucy for joining this venture and being so diligent and easy to work with.
Lucy would like to thank her fiancé, Ellie, for always being there to talk, laugh and adventure with. She would also like to thank her parents, Vicky and Robin, whose unwavering support was appreciated more than ever during a move abroad in the middle of a global pandemic halfway through editing this book! Thanks also go to colleagues, old and new, for their support and inspiration. Finally, Lucy would like to thank Philippa for inviting her to join this journey and being a fantastic mentor throughout the process. I have learnt so much and it has been an absolute pleasure!
