Gender differences in sports event volunteering: insights from Crew 2002 at the XVII Commonwealth Games

Abstract

Mega sports events offer potential as a social and economic policy intervention designed to stimulate personal and social capital. This paper explores this potential in the particular context of gender differences in the motivations and expectations of volunteers at the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. It utilizes questionnaire survey responses from 698 volunteers at these games. The paper argues that while the volunteers shared the same characteristics as the wider population in terms of sports participation and volunteering, none the less the expectations of female volunteers were very different than their male counterparts and, more than males, reflected the expectation of using the Games to raise their personal and social capital. This suggests a clear potential for using sports interventions to overcome existing social obstacles to both entry into the labour market but also enhanced community involvement in sports.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of UK Sport in the development of this study.