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Sport is often seen as an effective way to develop leadership skills, and it has great influence on children and teenagers, families, and how they spend their free time. However, because many sport contexts still idealize and prioritize masculinity, it is especially important to look at how young women are affected by this.
June 29, 2023
by Ye Lei
Sport is often seen as an effective way to develop leadership skills, and it has great influence on children and teenagers, families, and how they spend their free time. However, because many sport contexts still idealize and prioritize masculinity, it is especially important to look at how young women are affected by this.
Dr. Christine Wegner and her colleagues conducted a study to investigate how young women athletes think about leadership traits and how gender biases affect the way they act as leaders in sport environments.
In this study, the researchers gathered information from high school girls who attended an annual leadership conference. They conducted fourteen focus groups, with an average focus group size of six participants. During these sessions, the participants were asked questions such as “what makes an ideal leader in sport?” and “How do you think gender influences leadership?”
The researchers found that the athletes had positive opinions about their own leadership potential and abilities, but they also experienced difficulties and challenges because of their gender. For example, some felt that they needed to work harder to prove themselves as leaders.
Based on the findings, the authors concluded that girls and women who aspire to be leaders should have more support and opportunities to build their abilities. And it is crucial for current sport industry leaders to challenge the gender stereotype and biases.
“While the contribution of sport to leadership typically emphasizes traits development by participants, broader structural changes to prevailing sport systems are required to create more appropriate social climates for young women to enact such traits without repercussion, both within and outside of sport contexts.”
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Read the full article here:
Taylor, E., Sveinson, K., Wegner, C., Jones, G., & Heffernan, C. (2022). Exploring Perceptions of Prototypical Leadership and Gender Encoding Bias among Aspiring Female Athletes. Leisure Sciences, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2022.2149642
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