https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0106-7568
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ABSTRACT
Poland has achieved the lowest result (9%) of all surveyed European countries regarding the proportion of women holding senior positions in national sports federations. The unchanging under-representation of women in executive boards confirms the need to analyse factors maintaining gender inequality in Polish sports federations. 24 individual in-depth interviews were conducted with persons occupying leadership positions in order to explore the recruitment and selection process for board members in Polish sports federations. The results show significant discrepancies between women and men in terms of perceiving barriers preventing existence of more diverse and gender-balanced boards. Women indicated that the selection policy significantly reduced women’s possibilities to hold positions in boards. The selection is preceded by appointing candidates by members of federations. Lack of trust towards women in sport and old boys’ network are the causes of not nominating them, according to the female respondents. The studied male respondents did not agree with these opinions. They pointed out lack of willingness and proper commitment that results in women not being elected. They did not identify gender as a significant feature in the functioning of an organisation. The research indicates the need to make the leaders of sports organisations more aware of the gendered structure of sports organisations as well as the need to deepen a discussion about the recruitment and selection policy for board members in sports organisations. Although the choice following of the then nominated candidates seems to be democratic, it can distort the chances of women.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.