Despite increased opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport, sport governance
remains gender-imbalanced at all levels of sport across the world (Fasting, Pike, Matthews, &
Sand, 2018). English sport governance provides no exception to this, with the majority of
National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) having male-dominated boards and executive
leadership teams (ELTs; Women in Sport, 2018). Through this research, I sought to gain an in-depth understanding of dominant gender power relations within the governance of two
English NGBs, England Golf and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), and how they impact upon
the gender balance of their leadership teams. I adopted a multi-method approach that utilised
semi-structured interviews with female and male leaders and colleagues, participant
observation within the headquarters of each NGB, and supporting documents.

Bourdieu’s theory of practice and its key concepts formed the theoretical framework
for this thesis and provided the tools to conduct a multi-layered analysis of gender power
relations at the macro- (structural), meso- (cultural), and micro- (individual) levels. These
analyses revealed that there was evidence of both the conservation and resistance of gender
power relations across all areas of England Golf and the LTA. Conservation strategies were
found to mostly profit dominant men through gendered rules and structures, gendered
recruitment processes, gendered organisational cultures, and greater opportunities for
dominant men to accumulate, convert, and maintain power than women. Resistance or
transformation strategies included changing governance rules, positive action towards
women leaders, addressing overtly gendered cultural practices, and providing training
opportunities to develop the confidence, skills, and experience of women leaders. At the end
of the thesis, I recommend strategies for change to develop the governance structures,
practices, and cultures of the two NGBs to be more gender-equitable.