Leadership Equality Starts at Grassroots
The 2024 Olympic Games were heralded as a significant milestone in gender equality, achieving, for the first time, equal representation of male and female athletes. This accomplishment is commendable, but it conceals the substantial work that remains.
Despite initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality in sports leadership, women remain underrepresented. A survey commissioned by Sport England and UK Sport found that about 40% of Board roles in UK National Governing Bodies are held by women. The gender disparity is especially pronounced in leadership roles, with only 28% of Chairs and 26% of CEOs being women.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set targets to promote gender equality, and many International Federations have committed to increasing women in leadership positions. Initiatives such as the GAMES Project (Guidance to Achieve More Equal Leadership in Sport) aim to support gender-balanced leadership by providing research-backed strategies for increasing female representation. Achieving these targets is typically driven through top-down initiatives such as quotas, mentoring, networking, and monitoring at the governance level to further this aim.
While these are all valuable steps forward a critical question arises:
Are we ensuring that the pipeline to support more women into leadership positions is functioning effectively?
Evidence suggests that we are not.
The scarcity of women in sports leadership roles can be, at least in part, traced back to lower participation and retention rates among girls and young women, resulting in a smaller pool of women than men ready to ascend to leadership positions.
- Participation Rates: According to Sport England research, there is a 22% gender gap in team sport participation among children aged 5-16, with 69% of boys engaging in team sports compared to only 47% of girls.
- Drop-Out Rates: By age 14, girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys.
- Coaching Imbalance: A recent report in the UK found a sharp decline in the percentage of female coaches to 38%.
Addressing the root causes of these disparities is essential. In my experience, as an athlete, a coach and a mother of two girls there are several reasons this gap exists.
The Societal Barrier
From an early age, societal expectations shape the way girls engage with sport. Traditional gender norms still identify sports as a male domain and limited female role models can lead to fewer girls developing a strong sporting identity.
Beyond childhood, the challenges continue. Women often juggle multiple roles – balancing careers, caregiving responsibilities, and household duties. This ‘time poverty’ disproportionately affects women and pushes sport (whether participating, volunteering or coaching) further down the priority list. This makes long-term participation and leadership progression in sport more difficult.
The Cultural Gap
Women’s sport continues to receive far less media coverage than men’s sports. This imbalance reinforces harmful perceptions that women’s sports are less important or less valuable, leading to fewer sponsorship opportunities, lower pay, and ultimately, fewer girls and young women seeing sport as a viable long-term pursuit.
Grassroots programmes and governing bodies must work to counteract this by pushing for equal representation in media coverage and ensuring that young girls see strong, confident female athletes leading the way.
The Confidence Gap
Beyond structural and cultural barriers, self-perception plays a crucial role in retention. Studies indicate that girls often suffer from a confidence gap in sport compared to boys. According to a Women in Sport report, 43% of teenage girls who once played sport drop out due to a lack of confidence or worries about body image.
Research from the UK Parliament Women and Equalities Committee shows that periods are a major reason girls disengage from sport with 38% of secondary school girls saying that period-related issues stopped them from taking part in PE. A lack of education around training during menstruation, limited access to appropriate facilities, and embarrassment around discussing periods all contribute to drop-out rates. Despite this, many sports clubs and schools still fail to offer period-friendly policies such as open conversations or education about exercising during different menstrual phases.
Flexible kit choices are also important. Research shows that girls feel more comfortable and confident when they have some autonomy over what they wear. Strict uniform rules, discomfort with certain styles of kit, and concerns over body image all contribute to drop-out rates. Schools and clubs should introduce flexible, inclusive kit policies to ensure poor sportswear is never a reason for girls to disengage in sports.
Missed Opportunities in Schools
Schools play a pivotal role in keeping girls engaged in sport and laying the groundwork for future leadership but in many cases is missing the mark. Too often school PE prioritises competitive sports or traditional team sports. These can be engaging for naturally sporty children but risks alienating those who do not see themselves as athletic. Many children self-identify as ‘non-sporty’ from an early age, sometimes due to a lack of confidence or previous negative experiences. School PE should include a wider range of activities, giving girls an opportunity to find a sport or physical activity that truly engages them.
Strengthening the Pipeline for Future Leaders
The underrepresentation of women in sports leadership is not just a leadership issue – it is also a grassroots issue. The drop-out dilemma at a young age means fewer women remain in the system, reducing the talent pool for future coaches, officials, and executives.
To truly close the gender gap in leadership we must first tackle these barriers, ensuring that girls and young women feel confident, supported, and empowered to stay in sport for life.
