We aim to develop a deeper understanding of gendered networking in international sport governance. Specifically, we examine the perceptions and experiences of networking amongst women and men senior postholders within international federations (IFs). We draw on interview data from in-depth semi-structured interviews with six men and six women British senior postholders across 12 different Olympic (n = 10) and Paralympic (n = 2) IFs. Networking was reported to be an instrumental factor in obtaining and maintaining a career in international sport governance. We present and discuss a ‘4 p’s typology’ that reflects and represents interviewees’ perceptions and experiences of the roles and mechanisms of networking: profile, place, purpose, and preference. We found that the roles and mechanisms of networking were complex and multi-faceted, spanning individual goals and strategies and group/organisational aims and processes. Furthermore, whilst men and women interviewees were mostly uniform in their perceptions of the roles and mechanisms of networking, there were clear gender differences in their experiences of, and outcomes from, networking. Overall, the findings from this paper demonstrate how influential and important networking is for both individual career advancement and organisational agendas and decisions. Given this, our findings on the gendered nature of networking can be problematic if already underrepresented women benefit less than men from valuable networking activities. We end the paper by providing some recommendations for future research and concrete short-term strategies that can be implemented to work towards gender-inclusive networking.

The aim of this article is to investigate the influence of gendered emotional relations on gender equality in the governance of Australian sport organizations. Theoretically the study draws on the concept of a gender regime, a pattern of gender relations characterized by four interwoven dimensions of social life: production, power, emotions, and symbolism. This article reports on two case studies: sport boards C and E. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the two CEOs and nine directors of two Australian national sport organizations, sport C and sport E. Sport board C exhibited a gender regime of masculine hegemony in transition while sport board E had a regime of gender mainstreaming in progress. Supportive emotional relations between directors offered positive prospects for gender equality in the governance of sport organizations; however, they needed to operate in conjunction with other gender dimensions.

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.

This paper examines gender diversity in sport governance globally. Theoretically, the study draws on gender dynamics in organisations, in particular on Kanter’s concepts of gender ratios and critical mass. An audit of the gender ratio on boards of National Sport Organisations (n = 1,600) was conducted in 45 countries. Data were collected through the Sydney Scoreboard, an interactive website that tracks women’s presence on sport boards internationally. Findings show that women remain under-represented on three key indicators: as board directors (global mean 19.7 %), board chairs (10.8 %) and chief executives (16.3 %). Few countries have achieved a critical mass of 30 % representation and no continent has achieved the critical mass on any of the three indicators. Women’s under-representation in sport governance is due to complex gender dynamics. Gender diversity on sport boards is associated with four interwoven dimensions of gender relations: production, power, emotion and symbolism. The combination of the four dimensions produces an environment that may or may not be conducive to gender diversity.

This study explores parents’ gendered meanings in their involvement with their son’s soccer participation. We use Bourdieu’s (1985; 1990; 2012) theoretical perspective of fields, positions, habitus and taking positions to examine the way in which parents in two Dutch soccer clubs reconstruct and negotiate gendered meanings through expressions, positioning and power relations within the field of their son’s soccer. The findings suggest that, within this field, a subdivision exists between the ‘main’ field, represented by masculine meanings, and the subordinated ‘serving-the-main’ field, represented by feminine values. The study contributes to a better understanding of the processes involved in the construction of gender in both subfields and highlights the way in which women who enter the ‘main’ field can be theorized as ‘space invaders’.

A common intervention to address women’s underrepresentation in governance has been the introduction of gender quotas. This study examined the impact of gender quotas on gender equality in governance among boards of National Sport Organizations (NSOs) in Australia. Central to the study was the theoretical concept of a gender regime. Part of a larger study, the research design comprised a comparative case study of five NSOs with data collected mainly through semistructured interviews with directors and CEOs. The findings suggest that a quota of a minimum of three women was a first condition to advance gender equality in governance. It needed to operate, however, in conjunction with other gender dynamics to move toward equal participation by men and women in board decision making. These included women in influential board positions, solidaristic emotional relations between men and women directors, and directors’ adoption of gender equality as an organizational value.

This paper explores gender dynamics in sport governance with reference to boards of National Sport Organisations (NSOs) in Australia. It is based on a recent study, underpinned by governance and gender theory. Central is the notion of a gender regime, which is characterised by four interwoven dimensions: production, power, emotional and symbolic relations. When applied to governance dynamics in sport boards, this concept permits identification of how gender works. The study involved an audit of 56 NSOs and in-depth interviews with board directors and chief executive officers (n = 26; 9 women and 17 men) from five NSOs. This paper reports on the results of three NSOs. The data suggest that directors’ participation in sport governance was not uniform in terms of gender dynamics. Three gender regimes were identified: masculine hegemony, masculine hegemony in transition and gender mainstreaming in process. Only the latter provided significant opportunities for gender equality in governance while the former two imposed significant constraints. Central to the regime associated with gender equal governance was a combination of presence of women on the board, the occupation of influential board roles by women, active support of women directors by influential men on the board and a commitment to equality in governance as equal participation by both men and women.