Mind the Gap: The Layered Reconstruction of Gender in Sport Related Organizations

Abstract

Most sports are structured by gender resulting in sex segregation by sport. This formal division of an activity based on gender is unique in sport, in contrast paid and volunteer work in sport are not formally segregated by gender.. Qualified men and women may engage in this work regardless of sport. Yet, informal gender segregation also occurs in this work. Although men and women participate in similar numbers in sport, there is still a gender gap in positions of leadership. The goal of this dissertation is therefore to explore this gender gap and specifically to show how organizational processes may contribute to the construction of gender in sport related organizations and how this may impact processes of inclusion and exclusion in sport work. The first chapter examines how gender inequality occurs in the organization of sport in the Netherlands. In addition the chapter describes a sociological perspective that can reveal the layeredness, dynamics and complexity of social processes and give insight into the (re)construction of gender. The perspectives described in this chapter are used in different ways in the following chapters. Chapter two contains a literature review about processes of inclusion and exclusion in sport organizations such as in club membership and in volunteer work. These processes of inclusion and exclusion tend to be organized along lines of gender, ethnicity, validity/ableness, social class and sexual preference and are unique to each social relation. The literature review study shows the complexity of processes of inclusion and exclusion and the need for more empirical research on how these processes take place. Chapter three examines how sport journalists give meaning to gender and ethnicity that result in the inclusion and exclusion of social groups. The results reveal the layeredness of meanings given to gender and ethnicity and their impact at individual and institutional levels. Although sport journalists are convinced men and women have equal opportunities to become sport journalists, dominant images about the suitability of women and ethnic minorities to be sport journalists suggest otherwise. Chapter four emphasizes various interaction processes used by organizational members to create and negotiate gender. The empirical study is based on interviews with board members at the top level of sport organizations about selection procedures for new board members. Recruitment and selection procedures are places where negotiation about the ‘fit’ of new members takes place. Chapter five provides insight in heterogeneous constructions of gender. This study contributes insight into the contexuality, changeability and paradoxality of gender meanings by exploring the ways national sport governing boards with skewed or balanced gender ratios negotiate gender. The last chapter summarizes the previous chapters and explores the entrenchment of the gender gap. I discuss three dominant discursive practices that provide insight into this entrenchment: gender neutrality, gender normalcy and gender passivity. Gender neutrality denies the existence of gender differences, gender normalcy constructs gender differences as normal, and, gender passivity is a practice used to avoid taking responsibility for changing the gendering of these positions.