Women in Sports: Triumphs, Challenges and Opportunities

Summary

Women are a minority group in most of the sport industry. This course on Women in Sport focuses on a broad range of topics relating to how working toward gender equality and equal gender representation in sport will benefit not only women and girls everywhere, but all stakeholders involved.

Gender equality is one of the most globally relevant social causes of our time. It is a human right and should be a fundamental goal of every socially responsible sport organization. Striving towards gender equality in the sport industry is not only the right thing to do, it is also essential in order to achieve sustainable development. Women represent half of the world’s human potential, so any industry that is not able to take full advantage of female talent cannot reach its own full potential.

The sport industry is faced with several barriers which are preventing female talent from contributing to the industry’s growth and success. We will examine what those barriers are, how they came to be, and what it is going to take to eliminate them.

The sport industry is traditionally male dominated and therefore brings with it certain ingrained challenges in terms of attracting and retaining women. On one side, women’s sports are underfunded, underpaid and underrepresented in the media in comparison to men’s sports. We will examine how these three factors are creating a spiral that is not only hard to break out of, but is having a negative chain effect resulting in limited numbers of women pursuing sport related careers.

There are also some tough and taboo topics such as male dominated social environments, network based hiring practices, sexualisation of women and biases which value men’s contributions more than women’s. The only way to understand and address some of the detrimental cultural norms which have inadvertently become integrated in sport culture is to talk about them, understand them and develop concrete action plans to change them.

There is a lot that can be done to improve gender representation. The sport industry needs women, and this course offers a comprehensive overview of how we can make sure that female talent is integrated, supported and retained – an achievement that will benefit everyone.

What You’ll Learn

Through this course you’ll learn the following:

· Why gender equality is a relevant issue in the sport industry

· How women are the key to significant growth potential

· How the role of women in the sport industry has developed over the past century

· Why acquiring more female talent is essential for the sport industry’s further development

· What the current level of female representation is among participating athletes and other sport industry professionals

· Which factors are restricting the further development and growth of women’s sport

· Which factors are limiting the number of women in sport management and leadership positions

· What concrete changes can be made in order to integrate more women into all levels of the industry

· How are the companies and organizations that are prioritizing gender equality benefitting

· How women’s sports are bankable

· How women represent the largest untapped consumer group

· How sport participation and female role models can feed the next generation of female athletes and sports businesswomen

· How transgender athletes are currently included in sport systems and what we can do to improve inclusion and ensure fair treatment of all people

Why Choose This Course?

Perhaps you are interested in pursuing a sport-related career? Or perhaps you are already working in the sport industry? Or maybe you are interested in women’s rights and gender equality in general.

The topic of gender equality is one of utmost relevance in nearly all aspects of business, with the sport industry being no exception. Whatever your role may be, and regardless of your own gender, being informed and aware of the issues surrounding gender equality in the sport industry will be beneficial to you, and everyone you work with.

We aim to cover the topic of women in sport from a variety of perspectives. Whether it is sport organizations struggling to find fair and functional ways to fulfil gender quotas, or the lucrative business opportunity of women’s sport sponsorship, or the public perception of social responsibility – being in the know will help you navigate your own career path with many of the topics being relevant outside of the sport industry as well.

The course content was assembled by myself, Megan Tandy, a 3 time Olympian and mother with a Masters of Business Administration in Sport Management. Join me, and let me share with you more about one of the greatest challenges of our time as well as one of the fastest changing dynamics in the world of sport.