The continued underrepresentation of women in the governance and leadership of sport has been recognised by scholars and activists since the 1980s. However, there is limited contemporary understanding of the statistical representation of women in decision making positions in international sport governance as well as the gender and governance actions being undertaken by these organisations. Such actions can include gender targets, gender quotas, gender election and recruitment rules, working groups or committees/commissions, official documents/strategies, and women’s leadership development programmes.
This research analysed gender representation in the governance of 60 international sport organisations and explored the prevalence and nature of their existing gender equity policy and actions. The organisations were categorised into six groups: International Multi Sport Organisations; Continental Olympic Committees/Councils; Continental Paralympic Committees/Councils; Summer Olympic International Federations (IFs) that are members of ASOIF; Winter Olympic IFs that are members of AIOWF; and International Paralympic Committee-recognised IFs. Data were gathered from extensive and focused trawls of the websites and official documents/publications of these organisations. We drew upon a combined theoretical framework of critical mass theory and compliance theory to aid analysis of our findings.
Our findings demonstrate that there continues to be a significant underrepresentation of women within decision-making positions in international sport organisations. When measures are implemented to address such female underrepresentation, we found that it is not the prevalence but nature of gender and governance actions that is most important. Furthermore, some types of organisations require more support than others in implementing effective gender and governance measures.